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From the archive, 29 March 1972: Is America ready for a black female president? From the archive, 29 March 1972: Is America ready for a black female president?
(6 months later)
She strides down the shabby streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side, opens the door of a shop selling magic potions and voodoo charms, and marches inside. "Hello mom, hello sister, I'm fighting Shirley Chisholm, the only black woman in Congress. I'm running for the Presidency of the United States and I need your help. Please vote for me."She strides down the shabby streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side, opens the door of a shop selling magic potions and voodoo charms, and marches inside. "Hello mom, hello sister, I'm fighting Shirley Chisholm, the only black woman in Congress. I'm running for the Presidency of the United States and I need your help. Please vote for me."
A dark skinned woman cries "We're with you sister" and Mrs Chisholm moves on. Outside a Chinese grocery offering bean curds and eggs in brines, she repeats her spiel. A young white housewife pledges her support and a bearded student promises Mrs Chisholm his vote in the New York primary in June.A dark skinned woman cries "We're with you sister" and Mrs Chisholm moves on. Outside a Chinese grocery offering bean curds and eggs in brines, she repeats her spiel. A young white housewife pledges her support and a bearded student promises Mrs Chisholm his vote in the New York primary in June.
Straight backed, regal, and with an almost messianic belief in her own abilities, the fiery Representative from the Bedford Stuyvesant slum in Brooklyn is challenging the notion that the American people will not vote for a qualified candidate simply because he is not white or because she is not male.Straight backed, regal, and with an almost messianic belief in her own abilities, the fiery Representative from the Bedford Stuyvesant slum in Brooklyn is challenging the notion that the American people will not vote for a qualified candidate simply because he is not white or because she is not male.
For days that start at dawn and end past midnight, she is on the road, campaigning in 15 States and speaking on campuses, but the route is uphill all the way. Black male politicians have refused to endorse her - "They're no different from white politicians and it's difficult for them to accept the fact that women are human beings," she says scornfully. In addition, her campaign lacks what she terms Madison Avenue packaging and money: other Democratic contenders are spending a million dollars apiece on the primaries while so far she has raised only $30,000.For days that start at dawn and end past midnight, she is on the road, campaigning in 15 States and speaking on campuses, but the route is uphill all the way. Black male politicians have refused to endorse her - "They're no different from white politicians and it's difficult for them to accept the fact that women are human beings," she says scornfully. In addition, her campaign lacks what she terms Madison Avenue packaging and money: other Democratic contenders are spending a million dollars apiece on the primaries while so far she has raised only $30,000.
Standing on a street corner, her bifocals planted firmly on her nose, Mrs Chisholm rails against liberal candidates such as Lindsay, McGovern, and McCarthy who complain she is splitting the votes of blacks, women, and the young. "'Why don't you get out?' they say. And I say George, John, and Gene, you all look alike to me - you're all white, you're all male. I'm the only unique one who's running. Why don't you flip a coin and one of you get out instead?'" And the crowd roars "Sock it to them Shirley."Standing on a street corner, her bifocals planted firmly on her nose, Mrs Chisholm rails against liberal candidates such as Lindsay, McGovern, and McCarthy who complain she is splitting the votes of blacks, women, and the young. "'Why don't you get out?' they say. And I say George, John, and Gene, you all look alike to me - you're all white, you're all male. I'm the only unique one who's running. Why don't you flip a coin and one of you get out instead?'" And the crowd roars "Sock it to them Shirley."
Whatever the outcome of her campaign, Mrs Chisholm's bid for the Presidency is a natural progression in her extraordinary career. Blessed with a shatterproof ego ("Thirty-six men have been President of the United States and I am better than all but six or seven of them") and wholly independent ("unbought and unbossed" is the slogan she used when elected to Congress) she has fought the political machine for 20 years and come out on top.Whatever the outcome of her campaign, Mrs Chisholm's bid for the Presidency is a natural progression in her extraordinary career. Blessed with a shatterproof ego ("Thirty-six men have been President of the United States and I am better than all but six or seven of them") and wholly independent ("unbought and unbossed" is the slogan she used when elected to Congress) she has fought the political machine for 20 years and come out on top.
"My rise has been constantly fighting. I've had to fight doubly hard and of the two handicaps being black is much less a drawback than being a woman," she says passionately into the microphone, her clipped Caribbean accent a legacy of her parentage and early childhood."My rise has been constantly fighting. I've had to fight doubly hard and of the two handicaps being black is much less a drawback than being a woman," she says passionately into the microphone, her clipped Caribbean accent a legacy of her parentage and early childhood.
Born 47 years ago in the Brooklyn district she now represents, Shirley was the daughter of a West Indian immigrant couple, her father a labourer in a hessian sack factory, her mother a domestic worker. When she was three, Shirley was sent to live with her grandmother in Barbados while her parents struggled against the Depression back home. Her earliest heroine was the suffragette Susan B. Anthony. Jeered at by male hecklers during her street corner campaign she quotes Miss Anthony: "The hour is come when women will no longer be the passive recipients." "That always stops them cold," she says happily. "Women have to learn to flex their political muscles. You've got to flex your muscles to get what you want."Born 47 years ago in the Brooklyn district she now represents, Shirley was the daughter of a West Indian immigrant couple, her father a labourer in a hessian sack factory, her mother a domestic worker. When she was three, Shirley was sent to live with her grandmother in Barbados while her parents struggled against the Depression back home. Her earliest heroine was the suffragette Susan B. Anthony. Jeered at by male hecklers during her street corner campaign she quotes Miss Anthony: "The hour is come when women will no longer be the passive recipients." "That always stops them cold," she says happily. "Women have to learn to flex their political muscles. You've got to flex your muscles to get what you want."
Mrs Chisholm insists she is running for the Presidency but says privately that her "more realistic goal" is to win enough delegates to force leading candidates to adopt her programme at the Democratic National Convention in July. An alternative possibility would be the Vice-Presidency. She says that anyone who wants the votes of her delegates will have to nominate a black for Vice-President, a woman to run the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and an Indian as Secretary of the Interior - "the American dream come true."Mrs Chisholm insists she is running for the Presidency but says privately that her "more realistic goal" is to win enough delegates to force leading candidates to adopt her programme at the Democratic National Convention in July. An alternative possibility would be the Vice-Presidency. She says that anyone who wants the votes of her delegates will have to nominate a black for Vice-President, a woman to run the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and an Indian as Secretary of the Interior - "the American dream come true."
[This is an edited extract, click here for the full version. ][This is an edited extract, click here for the full version. ]
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