I never knew this...

[elisi]

Before Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm

Decades before Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm. As the first black woman to run for president for a major political party she was years ahead of her time. So why don't more people know about her?

Comments

[spikewriter]

Boy, this brought back memories. Yes, I definitely know about Shirley Chisholm. My sixth grade teacher, Miss Hartwell, who was also my first black teacher, left our school because she was going to work with Shirley Chisholm. I didn't know at the time that she was going to work on the campaign, which was announced a few weeks after Miss Hartwell left.

What I remember so powerfully, though, was that I thought it amazing and wonderful that a woman was running for president, that a woman was willing to say, "I can" when the men were saying, "You can't." She's also the only presidential candidate I ever met because the campaign did do a visit to our city and Miss Hartwell made certain my parents and I were invited to an event. We were introduced and I wished her luck, told her I thought it would be amazing if she won and she thanked me. It was nothing special, but my former teacher had wanted some of her students to have the chance to meeting this inspiring woman.

She and Barbara Jordan were childhood idols for me because these were women who did when the conventional wisdom was that women should be the support and ornament for the man.

[elisi]

My sixth grade teacher, Miss Hartwell, who was also my first black teacher, left our school because she was going to work with Shirley Chisholm. I didn't know at the time that she was going to work on the campaign, which was announced a few weeks after Miss Hartwell left.
That's incredible. Must have felt like touching history.

It was nothing special, but my former teacher had wanted some of her students to have the chance to meeting this inspiring woman.
I'd say it was definitely special. And I think your teacher definitely succeeded in inspiring her students.

She and Barbara Jordan were childhood idols for me because these were women who did when the conventional wisdom was that women should be the support and ornament for the man.
*nods* I'm currently rereading Gaudy Night (for goodness knows which time). It was published in 1935, and although it's set in a women's college, there is very much a through-line of women either becoming scholars or getting married. The two are not compatible.