Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 30, 1924 and was the oldest of four daughters to immigrant parents. Being aware of racial and gender inequality, she joined the League of Women voters, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, as well as the Democratic Party club in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Chisholm ran for a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1964. and while she faced resistance from her own organization based on her gender, she still went on to sweep the Democratic primary in June 1964 with 18,000 votes, while her Republican and Liberal party opponents received no more than 1,900 votes (according to The Journal Of African American History), becoming the second African American in the New York State Legislature in 1964, and the first African American woman in Congress. She was the first black woman to seek nomination for president of the United States.
Chrisholm would unfortunately pass on January 1st, 2005. Her health had been in decline due to a series of strokes the previous summer. She was buried in the Birchwood Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, where the legend inscribed on her vault reads “Unbought and Unbossed” (according to Buffalo Rising)
“I want to be remembered as a woman … who dared to be a catalyst of change.” Chisholm said according to womenshistory.org.
