Speaker 1: It'signed for the Way Black History Fact and Today's Way
Speaker 1: Black History Fact is sponsored by an underground beach club
Speaker 1: from the streets to the beach. For the latest in
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Speaker 1: talk about the first black woman who actually makes some
Speaker 1: real headway and running for president. She was almost assassinated
Speaker 1: three times, and you're going to share a story with you.
Speaker 1: Shirley Anita Chisholm was born November thirtieth, nineteen twenty four
Speaker 1: through January first, two thousand and five. She was an
Speaker 1: American politician who in nineteen sixty eight became the first
Speaker 1: black woman to be elected to the United States Congress.
Speaker 1: Chisholm represented New York's twelfth Congressional District, a district centered
Speaker 1: on Bedford Stuiberson, her seven terms from nineteen sixty nine
Speaker 1: to nineteen eighty three. In nineteen seventy two, she became
Speaker 1: the first black candidate for a major party nomination for
Speaker 1: the president of the United States and the first woman
Speaker 1: to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and she
Speaker 1: was a black woman. Throughout her career, she was known
Speaker 1: for taking a resolute stand against economic social and political injustices,
Speaker 1: as well as being a strong supporter of black civil
Speaker 1: rights and women's rights. By the way, this reading comes
Speaker 1: from Wikipedia, It's important to say that born in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: New York, she spent ages five through nine in Barbados,
Speaker 1: and she always considered herself a Barbadian American. She excelled
Speaker 1: at school and earned her college degree in the United States.
Speaker 1: She started working in early childhood education and became involved
Speaker 1: in local Democratic Party policies in the nineteen fifties. In
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, overcoming some resistance because she was a woman,
Speaker 1: she was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four
Speaker 1: years later, she was elected to Congress, where she led
Speaker 1: the expansion of food and nutrition programs for the poor
Speaker 1: and rose to party leadership. She retired from Congress in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three and taught at Mount Holyoke College while
Speaker 1: continuing her political organizing. Although not dominated for an ambassadorship
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three, health issues caused her to withdraw.
Speaker 1: She garnered ten percent of the vote at the Democratic
Speaker 1: National Convention in nineteen seventy two, and though she failed
Speaker 1: to win the nomination, she was forced to survive three
Speaker 1: assassination attempts during this presidential run. Some say her bid
Speaker 1: laid the groundwork for future presidential bids by women. In
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Speaker 1: So the thing that stood out to me about this
Speaker 1: story is that there were three assassination attempts, three attempts
Speaker 1: on her life in the seventies, which, to me, the
Speaker 1: seventies feels like the modern era, like I can reach
Speaker 1: out and touch someone who was born in the seventies
Speaker 1: or born in the sixties, you know. And this was
Speaker 1: after you know, doctor King was assassinated, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like it it's more modern and I feel
Speaker 1: I obviously I don't have no proof, but I feel
Speaker 1: like these assassination attempts were because she was a black
Speaker 1: woman and.
Speaker 2: Was I think more importantly, because she was a black
Speaker 2: woman that they had to feel had some influence that
Speaker 2: had a shot, you know what I mean, that that
Speaker 2: could really change people's minds about what was possible, inspire
Speaker 2: those who came after her to try the same thing. Right,
Speaker 2: if she was not influential and didn't have that kind
Speaker 2: of impact, why even why
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I I'm appreciative of the groundwork that she
Speaker 1: like God bless