Weeks before she turned 44, Shirley Chisholm made history in 1968 when she became the first Black woman elected to Congress. A former educator, Chisholm served seven terms in the House of Representatives, representing New York’s 12th congressional district. The Democratic congresswoman championed civil rights, women’s rights, and anti-poverty programs.
In 1969, Chisholm reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, and led the expansion of the food stamp program, now known as SNAP. She later created the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) to provide assistance for women and their children in low-income households. Chisholm also co-founded both the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971.
In another historic first, she became the first Black candidate to run for president on a major party ticket when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972. “I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and I am equally proud of that,” Chisholm said when she announced her candidacy. “I am the candidate of the people, and my presence before you now symbolizes a new era in American political history.”
After she lost her bid, she continued her work as a congresswoman for more than a decade before retiring in 1983. Chisholm died in 2005.
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