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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and you're listening to Stuff Mo

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Speaker 1: I've Never told you. One of my favorite things about

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Speaker 1: working on this show has been learning the histories of

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Speaker 1: badass women i'd often unfortunately never heard of, and it

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Speaker 1: is a shame because their stories and contributions are so inspiring.

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Speaker 1: Back when I was a video producer for this show,

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Speaker 1: I my favorite series we had, as I've mentioned before,

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Speaker 1: was something called History. Um, it's just I'm a big

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Speaker 1: history fan and I love learning more about these badass women.

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Speaker 1: And one of my favorite historical figures I've learned about

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Speaker 1: through working on this show is Surely Chisholm. So, in

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Speaker 1: honor of President's Day, we agend here in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Here's a classic episode delving into the life and legacy

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Speaker 1: of Shirley Chisholm. Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You.

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Speaker 1: From how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline. And Caroline, you

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Speaker 1: know those times when we are researching for Stuff Mom

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Speaker 1: Never Told You and we learn about a woman that

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Speaker 1: excites us and inspires us so much a it's give

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Speaker 1: me goose bumps right now, and we can't wait to

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Speaker 1: talk about it in the podcast studio, but also we

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Speaker 1: just want to tell everyone about her, like uh, Polly Murray,

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Speaker 1: Shirley Chisholm. I mean, in such a political time as this,

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Speaker 1: reading about Shirley Chisholm was such a breath of fresh

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Speaker 1: air but also a little bit of a disappointment that

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Speaker 1: she's not still around for me to hug. Yeah, call

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Speaker 1: up on the telephone, say thanks, Shirley. Yeah, write a

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Speaker 1: number of thank you letters to just for just for everything,

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Speaker 1: because y'all, Shirley was a badass and you need to

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Speaker 1: know who she is, and you need to tell everybody

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Speaker 1: you know about who she was. Yeah. Unfortunately for all

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Speaker 1: of us, she was a woman ahead of her time.

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Speaker 1: I mean fortunately because we have such a great story

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Speaker 1: to tell about her, but unfortunately because well, being so

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Speaker 1: ahead of her time, she was sort of kept out

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Speaker 1: of the positions that she would have done so much

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Speaker 1: great work in. And so, of course, Shirley Chisholm was

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Speaker 1: the first African American woman in Congress and the first

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Speaker 1: black woman to run for a major party's nomination for president,

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Speaker 1: among many many other firsts. But something that's really kind

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Speaker 1: of beautiful and poetic about her is that. In an

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Speaker 1: interview in her later years, she would say, when I die,

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Speaker 1: I want to be remembered as a woman who lived

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Speaker 1: in the twentieth century and who dared to be a

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Speaker 1: catalyst for change. I don't want to be remembered as

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Speaker 1: the first black woman who went to Congress, and I

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Speaker 1: don't even want to be remembered as the first woman

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Speaker 1: who happened to be black who ran for the presidency.

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Speaker 1: I want to be remembered as a woman who fought

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Speaker 1: for change in the twentieth century. And so this episode

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Speaker 1: is sort of a love letter too, surely to not

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Speaker 1: only educate you our listeners, and to educate ourselves, and

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Speaker 1: to provide this sort of inspirational figure for women in

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Speaker 1: politics and in this country in general, but really to

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Speaker 1: honor her memory and to tell you her story. And

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Speaker 1: part of us honoring her is really diving into her complexity,

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Speaker 1: her passion, and her brilliance that history just has not

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Speaker 1: given her enough credit for. We need to know more

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Speaker 1: about Shirley than the things, the individual things that she accomplished.

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Speaker 1: We need to know how and why she did that.

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Speaker 1: Um And also, I mean, surely it's just fabulous for

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Speaker 1: her gift of gab. Yeah. Um, some of her quotes

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Speaker 1: like I don't know, I mean, we literally could deliver

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Speaker 1: this entire podcast in just surely chisolen quotes because she

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Speaker 1: was such an amazing figure for women in general. She

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Speaker 1: was a staunch feminist. In addition to being proud of

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Speaker 1: her blackness, she was also proud of her woman nous. Um.

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Speaker 1: And she said at one point, the emotional, sexual, and

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Speaker 1: psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says it's

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Speaker 1: a girl. How ahead of her time is that? You know?

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Speaker 1: Who quote Shirley Chisholm quite a lot when he's talking

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Speaker 1: about his own feminism is President Barack Obama, that's right,

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Speaker 1: who also posthumously awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom,

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Speaker 1: and which says so much about the respect and admiration

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Speaker 1: that he has for her. Um, which just makes me

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Speaker 1: makes me already missed him being in office. Um, but

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Speaker 1: let's go back to Brooklyn in nineteen twenty four. Surely.

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Speaker 1: Anita st Hill was born on November twenty of that

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Speaker 1: year in Brooklyn to Charles sat Hill, who was a

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Speaker 1: factory worker from Guiana, and Ruby Seal sat Hill, who

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Speaker 1: was a seamstress from Barbados, and surely it was the

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Speaker 1: oldest of four daughters. Yeah, so she was around a

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Speaker 1: lot of amazing women's no surprise that she grew up

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Speaker 1: like all pro lady power um. But from the age

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Speaker 1: of three to ten she actually lived on her grandparents

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Speaker 1: farm in Barbados in order to get a British education.

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Speaker 1: Her parents remained back in Brooklyn. They were working to

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Speaker 1: make a living in the bed Stye neighborhood during the Depression,

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Speaker 1: and they basically figured like, here you can go live

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Speaker 1: a happy, wonderful life with your grandparents, getting an education

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Speaker 1: while we work here. And so once she came back

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Speaker 1: to Brooklyn, she aces public school and ends up getting

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Speaker 1: accepted to Oberlin and Vassar. She opts to go to

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn College on scholarship, and here we see one of

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Speaker 1: the first instances. And I love to talk about mentors

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Speaker 1: and teachers and things like that on the podcast to

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Speaker 1: show how kids get inspired to do things. Obviously, she

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Speaker 1: was not a kid at the point that she was

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Speaker 1: at college, but her political science professor, Lewis wars Off

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Speaker 1: encouraged her to consider a career in politics because of

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Speaker 1: her quote quick mind and debating skills. But even at

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Speaker 1: the time, Shirley's talking to Professor Lewis and she says,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm not so sure because I've got this

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Speaker 1: double handicap. That was her quote. I've got this double

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Speaker 1: handicap of being both black and a woman. But of

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Speaker 1: course that double handicap doesn't stop her from being active

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Speaker 1: in college. She joins the debate team, and when a

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Speaker 1: social club on campus denies black students entry, she starts

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Speaker 1: her room. It's called Apothia, and Apathia actually stood for

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Speaker 1: in pursuit of the highest in all? Can we start

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Speaker 1: an Apathia club? Can we can we get a chapter? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I don't know how you do that, but but I

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Speaker 1: think we'll just start with a framed portrait of Shirley

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Speaker 1: Chisholm and a bottle of water. That's right. Um, So

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Speaker 1: from there. In nine six, Shirley graduates kum Laudie with

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Speaker 1: a sociology degree, and she begins working as a nursery

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Speaker 1: school teacher. A few years later, in nineteen nine, she

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Speaker 1: marries Conrad Q. Chisholm, who's a private investigator. Uh and

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Speaker 1: in ninety two she gets her master's in Early Childhood Education,

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Speaker 1: from Columbia while working as a teacher and ends up

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Speaker 1: becoming the director of two daycare centers and early childhood education.

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Speaker 1: Ends up becoming her entry point into politics. Yeah, basically

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Speaker 1: because a couple of years later, in nineteen sixty, she

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Speaker 1: becomes a consultant to the New York City Division of Daycare.

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Speaker 1: So there you see her straddling that line of public

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Speaker 1: life and also still being in the education world. And

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Speaker 1: so around this same time time, Shirley has joined a

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Speaker 1: local Democratic club that had been working really hard to

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Speaker 1: root out the white leaders of the Bedstine neighborhood, who

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Speaker 1: they said were ignoring black residents who were the majority

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Speaker 1: in that neighborhood. And they made a wonderful decision that

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Speaker 1: ended up being terrible for them. But in order to

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Speaker 1: shut her up, like god, this woman with her confidence

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Speaker 1: and smarts and brilliance, to shut her up, they put

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Speaker 1: her on the board of directors and she's like, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's gonna shut me up. She surely, so, of course

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Speaker 1: she doesn't. They end up removing her from the post

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Speaker 1: because she was so vocal and so active in the community.

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Speaker 1: They were like, oh, we did the exact wrong thing.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't handle the Chisholm. You can't handle the Chisholm

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Speaker 1: and uh. In nineteen sixty two, the group actually got

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Speaker 1: a black man elected to the State Assembly, Thomas R. Jones.

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Speaker 1: But in four Jones actually decides, Hey, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: run for a judge ship. So the community was like, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know that surely woman we like her. So she

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Speaker 1: ends up replacing Jones, making her the second ever African

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Speaker 1: American woman elected to the New York State Legislature. Now

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Speaker 1: keep in mind, if you've listened to our previous podcast

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Speaker 1: episode on arch conservative anti feminist Phyllis schlaf Lee, nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty four is the year her star starts to rise

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Speaker 1: because she helped yet racist, anti civil rights un activist

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Speaker 1: Barry Goldwater as the Republican nominee for president. Yeah, running

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Speaker 1: against Lyndon B. Johnson, who beat Goldwater in the election.

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Speaker 1: So she's elected to the New York State Legislature, and

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Speaker 1: she has two bills she is especially proud of, one

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Speaker 1: of which established a program to help disadvantage high schoolers

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Speaker 1: go to college, and one that changed the practice of

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Speaker 1: revoking tenure for teachers who got pregnant. So you can

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Speaker 1: already see from the get go at the state level,

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Speaker 1: Surely is out to work for the people. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: I the fact that so early in her career she's

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Speaker 1: managing to accomplish things like this, that this is what

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Speaker 1: she's pushing for, and this will remain the type of

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Speaker 1: thing that she pushes forth throughout her political career. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it just warms my cold dead heart, basically. Yeah. And

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Speaker 1: I mean, and the thing is she's good at it.

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Speaker 1: She's very good at what she's doing. So in Night, Surely,

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Speaker 1: who is not one to just let history pass her by,

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Speaker 1: she says, you know what, I want to run for Congress. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: And it's sort of a perfect storm of things that

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Speaker 1: convince her to run because there had been this court

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Speaker 1: ordered redistricting that had carved out a brand new Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: district from her bed Stye neighborhood, and the Democrats very

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Speaker 1: specifically wanted to send an African American from this new district,

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Speaker 1: the twelfth District, to the House of Representatives. And so

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Speaker 1: she launches her primary campaign, which she said was strenuous,

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Speaker 1: and she used the slogan unbought and unbossed, and she

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Speaker 1: set herself apart from her three competitors with a super personal,

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Speaker 1: up close and personal campaigning style. She even said you

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Speaker 1: have to let them feel you. She really got out

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Speaker 1: there among the people. And in addition to getting out

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Speaker 1: there among the people, she also wrote around in an

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Speaker 1: open truck with a loudspeaker. I love this. Yeah, she

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Speaker 1: um would ride around this truck announcing ladies and gentlemen.

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Speaker 1: This is fighting Shirley Chisholm coming through and people loved it.

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Speaker 1: And I would still like to note that unbought and

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Speaker 1: unbossed would remain her campaign slogan. Yeah, what I really

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Speaker 1: want after watching her documentary on Amazon, which is called

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Speaker 1: Shirley No, which is called Chisholm seventy two, unboughten un bossed,

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Speaker 1: I really want to get my hands on one of

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Speaker 1: her campaign posters because it's got a picture of her

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Speaker 1: with unbought and unbossed and it's really cool, you know

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Speaker 1: that classic style. Well, so when we get to the

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Speaker 1: general election, she's a Democrat and she's up against Republican

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Speaker 1: opponent James Farmer, who's a solid opponent. I mean, he

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Speaker 1: was a big figure in the civil rights movement. He

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Speaker 1: was the co founder of the Congress for racial equality.

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Speaker 1: He was an organizer as part of the Freedom Writers,

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Speaker 1: and they even had similar views on education, housing, employment,

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Speaker 1: the Vietnam War. So like, how do you pick? How

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Speaker 1: how does she set herself apart? Well, I mean she

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Speaker 1: did it handily because Shirley ended up winning six of

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Speaker 1: the vote. Uh, and with that the distinction of being

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Speaker 1: the first black woman elected to Congress. And in this case,

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Speaker 1: gender was on her side. This would really be the

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Speaker 1: only case that gender would be on her side. But

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Speaker 1: what happened was James Farmer, this well respected African American man,

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Speaker 1: was arguing during the campaign that quote, women have been

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Speaker 1: in the driver's seat in black communities for too long,

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Speaker 1: and that he was the right candidate because the district

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Speaker 1: needed quote a man's voice in Washington and called her

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Speaker 1: not only a little school teacher but also bossy oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: oh and a bossy female. So that's like total m

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Speaker 1: r a language, right, um, And Shirley's like, oh, that's

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Speaker 1: how you want to play huh Okay. So she counters

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Speaker 1: all of his sexism by highlighting discrimination against women. She

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Speaker 1: also highlights the power of women's organizations in this country

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Speaker 1: and also her own unique qualifications as being this really

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Speaker 1: highly educated educator. Um. And she also points out like, hey, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: black men have been able to go to Washington, but

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Speaker 1: what have what have you accomplished that I can't. I

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Speaker 1: can accomplish more. And it helped too that Chisholm was

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Speaker 1: from the neighborhood. I mean, she knew the people, she

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Speaker 1: was out in her truck, she lived there, she grew

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Speaker 1: up there, whereas she portrayed Farmer as an outsider since

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Speaker 1: he lived in Manhattan. And it also helped that surely

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Speaker 1: was fluent in Spanish, so she would make direct appeals

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Speaker 1: to the growing Hispanic population in bed Sty Um. And

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Speaker 1: it also helped, of course that more than eight percent

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Speaker 1: of the neighborhood were registered Democrats, so she did have

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Speaker 1: that on her side. But nonetheless she won. Yeah, she won,

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Speaker 1: And it's incredible And like, I wish I weren't as

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Speaker 1: shocked and surprised at that as I was, But through

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Speaker 1: so much sminty research, I'm like, wait, a woman and

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Speaker 1: a woman of color beat a man by highlighting sexism

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Speaker 1: well and also beating a black man too. I broke

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Speaker 1: my brain. I was like, wait, normally women are slammed

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Speaker 1: for victimizing themselves if they talk about gender discrimination. And

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Speaker 1: but that that's how great she was. She even, um,

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Speaker 1: and this would be a couple of years later, she

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Speaker 1: would even go out door to door as a census

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Speaker 1: worker because so many people in her bed Stye neighborhood

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Speaker 1: were suspicious of census workers. But there she was, as

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Speaker 1: that neighborhood gal, going out and being able to really

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Speaker 1: talk to them one on one. Well, that's the thing.

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Speaker 1: She literally walked her talk and she knew what she

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Speaker 1: was talking about. Um. But when she ends up in Washington,

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Speaker 1: she's still super active, still very outspoken, and sticks out

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Speaker 1: like a sore thumb. She says, it felt like I

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Speaker 1: was somebody coming out of the moon because being not

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Speaker 1: only African American, but also a woman and the first

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Speaker 1: at that to be elected to Congress, and all these

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Speaker 1: guys knew that unboughton on boss Shirley was coming their way.

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Speaker 1: So they were immediately wary of what this loudmouth, bossy

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Speaker 1: female might do. She might challenge the establishment. I mean

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Speaker 1: she already beat a dude in the general election, that's right, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And I mean they were right to worry. She said,

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Speaker 1: I have no intention of just sitting quietly and observing, which,

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Speaker 1: by the way, is the expectation of any junior UH

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Speaker 1: congress man or woman who comes in, Like basically, it's

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Speaker 1: your first time, You're just gonna sit quietly and observed.

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Speaker 1: She's like, okay, Like hell, I will, I intend to

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Speaker 1: focus attention on the nation's problems. And so in her

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Speaker 1: first floor speech in March of nineteen nine, she slams

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Speaker 1: the Vietnam War. She vows to vote against any defense

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Speaker 1: appropriation bill until the time comes, she said, when our

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Speaker 1: values and priorities have been turned right side up again.

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Speaker 1: And here she is actively championing all of those same

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Speaker 1: causes that had always been so important to her. She

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Speaker 1: sponsored increases in federal funding to extend the hours of

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Speaker 1: daycare facilities, and she sponsored a guaranteed minimum annual income

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Speaker 1: for families. She was looking out for people like her

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Speaker 1: and people like the neighbors that she grew up around

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Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. Yeah. She also launched the Special Supplemental Nutrition

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Speaker 1: Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which probably sounds a

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Speaker 1: lot more familiar by its acronym WICK, which provides support

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Speaker 1: for low income pregnant women. And she also fought for

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Speaker 1: programs like Headstart and food stamps. She championed a bill

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Speaker 1: to ensure domestic workers received benefits. She fought for immigrants rights,

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Speaker 1: and she helped establish the National Commission on Consumer Protection

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Speaker 1: and Product Safety. Surely is out there working for us. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and she was at the forefront of overriding President Ford's veto.

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Speaker 1: Now this is so impressive. She uh served as the

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Speaker 1: primary backer of a national school lunch bill. So that

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Speaker 1: harkens back to our episode on lunch Ladies. Yeah. So

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Speaker 1: she was at the forefront of realizing, like, yes, nutrition

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Speaker 1: in schools is important. We have to feed our kids.

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Speaker 1: A teacher would probably know that. A teacher would probably

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Speaker 1: know that. Um. And she was the one who led

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Speaker 1: her colleagues in overwriting Ford's veto on that measure. She

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Speaker 1: was already taken on the president, no kidding. Yeah, that

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Speaker 1: little school teacher turns out to be a powerful force.

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Speaker 1: And another one of her causes that was very close

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Speaker 1: to her heart and that she argued very strongly for

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Speaker 1: was the Equal Rights Amendment. And we are going to

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Speaker 1: talk about her efforts to get that ratified when we

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Speaker 1: come right back from a quick break. So, the Equal

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Speaker 1: Rights Amendment was written by Alice Paul and first proposed

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Speaker 1: back at the Seneca Falls Convention in nine And it's

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Speaker 1: a very basic proposed amendment stating, quote, equality of rights

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Speaker 1: under the law shall not be denied or are bridged

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Speaker 1: by the United States or by any state on account

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Speaker 1: of sex. So, of course really was all about it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, she knew she had to take this on.

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Speaker 1: She wanted to support the e r A. But she

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Speaker 1: also knew that when she got up and spoke about it,

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Speaker 1: she would be addressing largely a room of white guys.

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Speaker 1: And one thing that she was so stellar at way

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Speaker 1: back from her experience as an educator but also coming

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Speaker 1: up through the political machine, was being able to address

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Speaker 1: her audience, to meet them where they were at. And

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Speaker 1: so she talked to these guys and said, listen, we've

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Speaker 1: already overcome so much in terms of religious and political

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Speaker 1: prejudice in this country. We you guys have already done

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Speaker 1: so much to address like racial discrimination with the Civil

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Speaker 1: Rights Bill and sixty four. It's time to tackle quote

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Speaker 1: the most subtle, most pervasive, and most institutionalized form of

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Speaker 1: prejudice that exists, sex based discrimination. And so what she

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Speaker 1: does in her speech, and we read a paper that

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Speaker 1: basically dissected her rhetorical style that she uses like a

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Speaker 1: classic and classical Greek style of delivering a persuasive speech,

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Speaker 1: and how effective she was. Of course, spoiler, the e

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Speaker 1: r A would not be ratified, but she herself was

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Speaker 1: an effective tool to try to get it ratified. She

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Speaker 1: spells out the ways that this subtle, pervasive sex based

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Speaker 1: discrimination harms women and limits their opportunity. She talked about

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Speaker 1: how uh sex discrimination relegates women to low wage jobs.

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Speaker 1: It excludes them from not only selective service, but from

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Speaker 1: receiving the benefits both personal and professional, of serving their country.

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Speaker 1: Her argument was not only and this was very important.

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Speaker 1: Her argument was not only that like, hey, those military

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Speaker 1: jobs pay really well, and women should have access to

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Speaker 1: well paying jobs, but hey, women love their country too,

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Speaker 1: and women deserve the opportunity to serve that country in

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Speaker 1: the best way they can, and that is being a

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Speaker 1: member of the military. She talked about how women were

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Speaker 1: still barred from some college campuses, kept out of some

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Speaker 1: night jobs, and a lot of what she was talking

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Speaker 1: about revolved around that idea of benevolent sexism. The stuff,

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Speaker 1: as you will recall from our last episode that Philish

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Speaker 1: laughly so badly wanted to maintain. Surely Chisholm so badly

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Speaker 1: wanted to deconstruct it. Women, she basically argued, don't need

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Speaker 1: these special protections and privileges. What they need is the

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Speaker 1: e r A to just guarantee a level playing field. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because she basically argued, exploitation is exploitation. Sex has nothing

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Speaker 1: to do with it if we spell out legally like

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Speaker 1: what you can't do. And for that reason, the amendment,

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Speaker 1: in her words, was necessary to clarify the countless ambiguities

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Speaker 1: and inconsistencies in the legal system. And so she explained

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Speaker 1: that laws regarding women's employment, jury service, and access to

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Speaker 1: education widely varied from state to state, and so the

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Speaker 1: e r A, if it were ratified, would have leveled

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Speaker 1: the playing field across all fifty states and get this

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Speaker 1: mishmash of gendered laws off the books. Well, and she's

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Speaker 1: basically saying that guys, guys, guys, guys, men, men, folk friends, colleagues, countrymen, romans, Like, Look,

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Speaker 1: if all of this stuff is so different state to state,

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Speaker 1: doesn't that just speak to how irrational some of these

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Speaker 1: sexist quote unquote protections are. You know, she was saying

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Speaker 1: that no one would condone exploitation, But what does sex

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Speaker 1: have to do with it? Working conditions in hours that

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Speaker 1: are harmful to women are harmful to men. Wages that

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Speaker 1: are unfair to women are unfair for men. And that's

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Speaker 1: like such a modern feminist refrain that you know, so

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Speaker 1: many people make the very real important argument of feminism

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Speaker 1: doesn't only benefit women or one type of woman. The

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Speaker 1: things that feminists fight for can benefit all of us,

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Speaker 1: and that includes like families, people that Philish Laughly was

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Speaker 1: saying needed to be protected. Meanwhile, Philish Laughly, as you'll

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Speaker 1: learn about in our previous episode if you haven't listened,

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Speaker 1: was fanning the flames of panic that women might, for instance,

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Speaker 1: be drafted to military service. This also you know, being

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Speaker 1: in a very uh touchy time in terms of the draft.

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Speaker 1: But back to fighting Shirley Chisholm. Her speech was clearly

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Speaker 1: effective because the day of it, the House approved the

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Speaker 1: e r A by a vote of three hundred thirty

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Speaker 1: four to six. Yeah, but ultimately it was not ratified

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Speaker 1: by the number of states that needed to ratify it

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Speaker 1: to make it the law of the land. Right because

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Speaker 1: Philish Laughlely led the anti feminist crusade that overturned state

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Speaker 1: ratification of the amendment in two states and then blocked

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Speaker 1: it from being ratified and three other states, leaving it

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Speaker 1: short of the necessary number of states needed to make

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Speaker 1: it a constitutional amendment. But again, let's get back to

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Speaker 1: fighting Shirley Chisholm. Yeah, So remember at the top of

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Speaker 1: the podcast when we talked about how she was really

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Speaker 1: vocal in her bed Sty neighborhood about out the white

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Speaker 1: politicians who were doing nothing to help the people of

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Speaker 1: color in the neighborhood, and to shut her up, they

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Speaker 1: were like, let's just put you on the board of Directors,

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Speaker 1: and how it was like, oh, well, no, you just

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Speaker 1: launched her into power, Like, thank you for giving her

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Speaker 1: a voice in a platform, but you guys are going

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Speaker 1: against uh, your best interest is trying to shut her up. Well,

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Speaker 1: when she gets to Congress, her male white colleagues try

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Speaker 1: to do the same thing, and they try to shut

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Speaker 1: her up by assigning her to the Committee on Agriculture.

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Speaker 1: And she's like, what seriously, the Committee on Agriculture. I'm

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Speaker 1: from Brooklyn, Okay. So she appeals the decision to how

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Speaker 1: Speaker John McCormick, who just basically pats around the head

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Speaker 1: and tells her to be a good soldier. Well, because

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Speaker 1: it traditionally is on the junior congress people to basically

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Speaker 1: take the assignment they're given. You know, it is the

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Speaker 1: kind of weight your turn thing. But surely Chisholm does

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Speaker 1: not want to wait her turn because she knows that

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Speaker 1: no one is ever going to give it to her. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so she takes her complaint directly to the House floor,

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Speaker 1: and as a result of her being incredibly vocal uh,

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Speaker 1: she is reassigned to the Veterans Affairs Committee, which again

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Speaker 1: not her first choice. But according to a fabulous quote,

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Speaker 1: she says, yeah, but there are a lot more veterans

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Speaker 1: in my district than trees. So she would work with

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Speaker 1: what she had. She wouldn't just take what she was given.

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Speaker 1: But if she saw an opportunity, even if it is

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Speaker 1: there's something more adjacent like veterans Affairs, she would use

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Speaker 1: that to work for the people. Um And from nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy one to nineteen seventies seven she served on the

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Speaker 1: Committee on Education and Labor, and also in nineteen seventy

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Speaker 1: one she became a founding member of the Congressional Black

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Speaker 1: Caucus and then from seventy seven to eighty one, she

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Speaker 1: served as Secretary of the Democratic Caucus US and also

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Speaker 1: in seventies seven, she became the first black woman and

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Speaker 1: the second woman ever to serve on the ultra powerful

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Speaker 1: Congressional Rules Committee, and was a founding member of the

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Speaker 1: Congressional Women's Congress. So, like we said at the top

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Speaker 1: of the podcast, Shirley Chisholm just has so many firsts,

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Speaker 1: racked up, so many first and I think they're so

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Speaker 1: important to note, not just by virtue of the fact

428
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: that they are first, but to really illustrate how in

429
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 1: it she was that she was at the forefront of

430
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: all this stuff, because I feel like the early days

431
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: of the Congressional Black Caucus are frequently framed as like,

432
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: look at these men doing all of this stuff in

433
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: the interest of the black voter. But she was right there,

434
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 1: just right there, at the front. And to me, again,

435
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: that just hearkens back to our episode on Polly Murray,

436
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: We're like, hey, she was one of the founding members

437
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: of Now Okay like now as frequently framed as like

438
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: a middle class white woman things. You know, you frequently

439
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: hear about Betty friedan you don't hear about Paul Murray

440
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 1: and the other women of color who were there from

441
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 1: the get go, and so Shirley Chisholm has a similar

442
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 1: kind of parallel story in that regard well. And also

443
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: when we see her hustle kind of outlined like this,

444
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: it makes sense. But oh, yeah, she ran for president. Yeah,

445
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: So that timeline that we just gave you, what's missing

446
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: in there is that she ran for the Democratic nomination

447
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 1: for the presidential election of nineteen seventy two. And don't

448
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: think for a second that she didn't face constant hurdles.

449
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 1: But has that ever stopped her before? No? No, And

450
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: she she knew that there would be hurdles ahead of her.

451
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: She once said, I ran because most people thought the

452
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: country was not ready for a black candidate and not

453
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: ready for a woman candidate. Someday, it was time in

454
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two to make that someday come. Yes, I

455
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: love that. Sure he doesn't wait for tomorrow, she makes

456
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: tomorrow today. Yes, I would campaign for her today. Um.

457
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,239
Speaker 1: And the thing is, like we said at the top

458
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: of the podcast, Yeah, she was proudly a woman, she

459
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 1: was proudly African American, but she believed that she could

460
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 1: and should represent everyone, and then everyone should have a

461
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: voice in politics, and that she was that candidate. She said,

462
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 1: I'm not the candidate of Black America, although I'm black

463
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 1: and proud. I am not the candidate of the woman's

464
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 1: movement of this country, although I know I'm a woman

465
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 1: and I am equally proud of that. And the thing is,

466
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 1: She's like here, I am ready to be the candidate

467
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 1: of the everyman and the every woman. But she still

468
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 1: had people yelling at her on both sides because she

469
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 1: was really discouraged to find that women didn't want her

470
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: to discuss black issues and black people didn't want her

471
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 1: to discuss women's issues. But of course, you know, even

472
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 1: though she was stuck between a rock and a hard

473
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 1: place in that regard, that certainly didn't stop her from

474
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 1: flexing her feminist muscles. One badge of hers or button

475
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: that I am certainly going to have to find on

476
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: eBay and pay a million dollars for shows her face

477
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 1: in the middle of the venus symbol with the text

478
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: to represent all Americans. I mean, surely like Paully Murray

479
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: was so committed to intersectionality as well, she she knew

480
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: that that was part of her identity and she couldn't

481
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: and didn't want to divorce herself from that. UM. And

482
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 1: the thing is, though, the deeper involved she got into

483
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: politics and the further her presidential campaign went, the clearer

484
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 1: it became to her that of the double jeopardy status

485
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,960
Speaker 1: that she possessed of being both black and female, gender

486
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: was what held her back more because even feminists were

487
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: split over her candidacy. And this was the most heartbreaking

488
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 1: part of that Shirley Chisholm documentary where you see women

489
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 1: like Bella Abzug and Glorious Steinham start to moonwalk slowly

490
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: away from her. Yeah. So, despite the fact that Shirley

491
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 1: Chisholm had a ton of women and a ton of

492
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 1: white second wave feminist women working in her campaign, ultimately

493
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: those heavy hitters like Absug couldn't support her. And I

494
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: mean that that sums up so much about politics in general. UM. Basically,

495
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: you had a lot of people arguing that they needed

496
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 1: someone who could actually win UM. And so despite the

497
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 1: fact that Chisholm had founded the National Women's Political Caucus

498
00:33:54,920 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: with Betty for Dan, with Bella Abzug and with Glorious Steinhem,

499
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 1: both abs Againsteinem through their support behind George McGovern. Uh,

500
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 1: he basically had very similar policies and platforms as Shirley

501
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 1: Chisholm did. And so you had people like Abs Againsteinem

502
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: who were like, well, I don't know, I mean, like,

503
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,200
Speaker 1: it's great that you're a woman and a woman of

504
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: color and you're really educated and outspoken, but like, we

505
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,319
Speaker 1: think McGovern stands away better chance of winning, and as

506
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,759
Speaker 1: women who are trying to get what we want for

507
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 1: ourselves politically, we need to try to bet on the

508
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:38,759
Speaker 1: winning horse. And as Robert Gottlieb, who worked on her campaign,

509
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,920
Speaker 1: talks about in the documentary, it's not an apples to

510
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 1: apples comparison to UH to consider, well, if she were

511
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: running in sixteen, everything would be different, Like how this

512
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: is inconceivable that it would happen, Because, as Gottlieb says,

513
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,040
Speaker 1: having a woman run for president was like having some

514
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 1: body from Mars run for president. I mean, it was

515
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 1: beyond inconceivable at the time. Yeah, And she surely Chisholm,

516
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:13,960
Speaker 1: as you might expect, was so fed up with this

517
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 1: constant refrain. It wasn't just Steynham and Abs like, it

518
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 1: was just about everybody who was reading the news or

519
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 1: watching her campaign. She was so fed up with this

520
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:28,359
Speaker 1: attitude of like you're you're great, We're so glad you're

521
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 1: doing this, but we need somebody who can actually win,

522
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 1: because she was like, look at my history. Well yeah,

523
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,800
Speaker 1: because no one was arguing with her politics or against

524
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,319
Speaker 1: her politics or against her accomplishments. They were just like,

525
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:47,399
Speaker 1: you are two woman and too black for this to happen. Yeah,

526
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 1: it's it's not realistic because think of the rest of America.

527
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: But also like think of how much she'd already overcome

528
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 1: against so many odds. But it seems like oftentimes in

529
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 1: our society, we love a trailblazer up to a point. Yeah,

530
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,799
Speaker 1: and we'll take one trailblazer, but we don't want the

531
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 1: floodgates to open, you know. And it feels like there's

532
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: a lot of that going on, where it's like, listen,

533
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 1: you've already made history. You you're the first black woman

534
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:23,839
Speaker 1: to win a seat in Congress. You know, are aren't

535
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 1: going to relax, so relax. But surely Chisholm did the opposite.

536
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 1: And I loved watching footage of her so angry, so

537
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: and just so just over it, where she would say,

538
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,440
Speaker 1: if you can't support me, or you can't endorse me,

539
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 1: get out of my way. Yeah, because she had voters,

540
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,360
Speaker 1: she had reporters, she had all of these people asking

541
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,359
Speaker 1: her about like, why are you staying in You're just

542
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 1: taking votes away from mc govern. Because the whole thing

543
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: there was like a huge just the same way as

544
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 1: in this election cycle, there were a huge number of

545
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:01,480
Speaker 1: Republicans vying for the nomination. There huge number of Democrats

546
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: in the primary race at the time. And so basically

547
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:11,120
Speaker 1: you've got people saying, hey, your politics not that much

548
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 1: different from an Edward Muskie, not that much different from

549
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: a George McGovern, You should probably just drop out. Like

550
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,240
Speaker 1: you've done a great job. Your politics are on point.

551
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: You know, you're very outspoken and educated. Uh but I mean,

552
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 1: white America, I don't know if they can take you.

553
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 1: So let let George McGovern win and get those delegates

554
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 1: so that he can go to the convention and clinch

555
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 1: the nomination. Right, which absolutely echoes UM a lot of

556
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 1: things that Bernie Sanders supporters heard in this past Democratic primary. UM.

557
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,319
Speaker 1: And also this is this is rather reminiscent of well

558
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: as well. She had to sue in order to participate

559
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 1: in debates because people were that quick to dismiss her.

560
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,799
Speaker 1: She you know that they didn't even invite her to debates,

561
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 1: and she became There's footage in this documentary you guys

562
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 1: have to watch it, um from a television interview that

563
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 1: has several of the Democratic contenders, including Chisholm, on and

564
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: she becomes visibly fed up when the interviewer asked her

565
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 1: which opponent she would support. And it's not that that

566
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 1: language is like anti Shirley Chisholm specifically, because you hear

567
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: that in every race, Like, hey, you know, well everyone

568
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,399
Speaker 1: is still asks every Republican politician, which will you really

569
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: support Donald Trump? Yeah, well yes and so. But I

570
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,360
Speaker 1: think at that point, by the time this interviewer asks

571
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: her the question, she's like, seriously, I am still a contender,

572
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 1: Like I'm still in this to win this. And the

573
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,840
Speaker 1: thing is, though, I mean, this was a this was

574
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 1: a dangerous time and a dangerous race. George Wallace, the

575
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:03,880
Speaker 1: segregationist Paul Titian was shot five times and paralyzed from

576
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,319
Speaker 1: the waist down and that's when he ultimately dropped out

577
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,880
Speaker 1: of the race. Uh. Sureley Chisholm herself had several attempts

578
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,360
Speaker 1: on her life, and in the documentary where she's interviewed

579
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: years and years later, she still can't talk about it.

580
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 1: It's still so painful to her that people hated her

581
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,879
Speaker 1: enough to want to take her life. There was one

582
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,319
Speaker 1: man who was following her around with a knife, but

583
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 1: luckily her security team kept him from getting too close

584
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: to her. But even within the Congressional Black Caucus, which

585
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: you would assume would be fully supporting her, Sureley found

586
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:43,719
Speaker 1: herself an outsider because some caucus members had wanted to

587
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:48,240
Speaker 1: rally behind black male candidates from each state who wouldn't

588
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 1: be expected to win, but at the convention, those delegates

589
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 1: would be so scattered that they could then leverage those

590
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:01,520
Speaker 1: collective delegates for those black candidates across those many states.

591
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:09,880
Speaker 1: UH on behalf of platforms that would um help black

592
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,480
Speaker 1: the black population, like black voters. So but they couldn't

593
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:17,839
Speaker 1: decide like which ones essentially that they wanted to UH

594
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 1: to put up for the nomination. So Shirley was like, hey, listen,

595
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: let's not wait for someday. Let's make it today. I'm

596
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 1: going to run. I'll do it. Yeah. At least she

597
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,399
Speaker 1: was consistent, right, like, let's stop waiting around. Um. And

598
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,360
Speaker 1: you know, she said, I am looking to no man

599
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,760
Speaker 1: walking this earth for approval of what I'm doing, because

600
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 1: basically this journalist had asterlake. Uh. You know, some of

601
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: your Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, some of those dudes are

602
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: a little sore that you're throwing your hat on the ring.

603
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:53,800
Speaker 1: And that's when she was like, I don't don't care. Um.

604
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of those Black Caucus members

605
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: were resentful. They thought she'd sell out black interests for

606
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:06,359
Speaker 1: women's interest. Um. A lot of them considered her coalition

607
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 1: building as betrayal. You know, she worked with women black

608
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 1: and white, She worked with Hispanic, she worked with white

609
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 1: liberals and welfare recipients. And a lot of her black

610
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 1: colleagues were like, what are you doing. You're leaving You're

611
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,880
Speaker 1: leaving your people behind. And in her viewpoint, it's like no,

612
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: I'm yeah. She's like I'm five steps ahead of you.

613
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,480
Speaker 1: Catch up. Yeah, Like I'm bringing people together because like

614
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:31,319
Speaker 1: I have already said, gentlemen, i am everyone's president. And

615
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:36,759
Speaker 1: at one point, her Congressional Black Caucus colleague, Representative Bill Clay,

616
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,960
Speaker 1: questioned her sanity during a press conference. It was getting

617
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: to that level of sexism, and as Shirley later said,

618
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 1: black male politicians are no different from white male politicians.

619
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,319
Speaker 1: This woman thing is so deep. I've found it in

620
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 1: this campaign if I ever knew it before. Yeah, And

621
00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: a lot of her male Congressional Black Caucus colleagues ended

622
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: up throwing their support just like Steinhum and Abzug, behind

623
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 1: people like George McGovern um. And that was for a

624
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 1: lot of reasons. It went back to the whole belief

625
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 1: of like, we need someone who can actually win. But

626
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:15,719
Speaker 1: as a lot of those men said on camera and

627
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 1: interviews in the documentary, like we need to hitch our

628
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,319
Speaker 1: wagon to a star, and if we are going to

629
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 1: rise in the ranks of you know, either our party

630
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: or on the national political stage, we need to share

631
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: the spotlight with the guy who's gonna win. That operative

632
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 1: word of course being like that guy right who's gonna

633
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:41,120
Speaker 1: win well, and surely did not give up all the

634
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 1: way to the Democratic National Convention. She knew she was

635
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:48,240
Speaker 1: not going to win the nomination, but she also knew

636
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: the potential leveraging power of delegates, so she showed up

637
00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:59,000
Speaker 1: with one two delegates, which was more than either Ed

638
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 1: Muskie or Hubert Humphrey, and she was really hoping for

639
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,920
Speaker 1: a deadlocked convention in which she could use her delegates

640
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: say like, listen, I will break the tie. I'll throw

641
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 1: my delegates to you if you will provide a black

642
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:21,479
Speaker 1: running mate. She also wants to negotiate for a woman

643
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 1: to serve in the cabinet and a Native American to

644
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:29,279
Speaker 1: serve as Secretary of the Interior. Had talk about an

645
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:33,439
Speaker 1: intersectional politician, because there's footage of her again saying we

646
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 1: need a Native American person as the Secretary of the

647
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:43,360
Speaker 1: Interior because these were their lands, This was their land.

648
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,839
Speaker 1: Should they not have a representative in government who can

649
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 1: have a say. But unfortunately, George McGovern had put together

650
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 1: enough delegates to where he didn't need Shirley's, so she

651
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:03,919
Speaker 1: didn't really have a chance to break that deadlock and negotiate.

652
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 1: And much later in life she would lament the lack

653
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 1: of true democracy, saying that it's more deals and bargains

654
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:17,680
Speaker 1: than what people assume democracy is. Yeah, so here's this powerful,

655
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: driven woman who, as her record clearly shows, wants to

656
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:29,360
Speaker 1: act on behalf of families, wants to help the average

657
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 1: American worker, um, wants to do right by her people

658
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,480
Speaker 1: in in her country, and she is getting to this

659
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:43,880
Speaker 1: national stage and realizing, Oh, the track that I've been on,

660
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,520
Speaker 1: where I'm trying to help people of all colors and

661
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,400
Speaker 1: genders and backgrounds, that's not really what this is about.

662
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 1: It's about it's about that leverage and about making those

663
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: deals in back rooms. And it really seemed like that

664
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 1: was distasteful to her. Yeah, because it seems at least

665
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 1: that surely Chisholm was never out for power personal game.

666
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,280
Speaker 1: She was out for the people, legitimately out for the people,

667
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:18,520
Speaker 1: hence her campaign tagline of being unbought and unbossed. And

668
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:20,600
Speaker 1: the thing that I was really hardened to learn after

669
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:27,600
Speaker 1: her failed campaign was that she was still highly respected.

670
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:31,239
Speaker 1: She had made an impression on the American public. She

671
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 1: returned to Congress a popular figure. In the nineteen seventy

672
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,960
Speaker 1: four Gallop Pole, she was listed as one of the

673
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 1: top ten most admired women in America, ahead of Jackie

674
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:47,200
Speaker 1: Oh and Coretta Scott King. Yeah, she was tied in

675
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: sixth place with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was

676
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 1: a popular woman, you know. She she her love for

677
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:59,160
Speaker 1: the people and her desire to do right by them,

678
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:02,480
Speaker 1: I think really attracted her a lot of fans. But

679
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 1: the thing is, at the same time that Philish Laughly

680
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:12,759
Speaker 1: is pushing the right wing evangelical Christian bent to the

681
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:19,720
Speaker 1: Republican Party, Shirley is becoming disillusioned by that hard right turn,

682
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:23,040
Speaker 1: and in nineteen eighty two she announces she will not

683
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:27,120
Speaker 1: seek re election, and one of the reasons was because

684
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: of the country's conservative turn with the nineteen eighty election

685
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,520
Speaker 1: of Ronald Reagan. And she was also at this point

686
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 1: super fed up with being misunderstood. She said she felt

687
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:40,479
Speaker 1: that her fellow African American politicians did not understand all

688
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 1: of those coalition building efforts that she had started and

689
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 1: maintained over the years, because she was like, listen, guys,

690
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 1: we can't do this by ourselves, nor can white people

691
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,160
Speaker 1: do it by themselves. Like if we share politics and

692
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,200
Speaker 1: political ideology, we have to work together. And I just

693
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:58,520
Speaker 1: think that every step of the way. She continued to

694
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,720
Speaker 1: face these hurdles in her career, and by the time

695
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:04,319
Speaker 1: the country got so conservative, she was like, all right,

696
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:08,319
Speaker 1: I'm out, I gotta I gotta tap out. Yeah, I mean,

697
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 1: but she we can't forget that. She remained in Congress

698
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,880
Speaker 1: and was reelected up until she was finally like I

699
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 1: don't want to be reelected again. You know. She was

700
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:24,360
Speaker 1: a very successful state politician, um, and she remained active

701
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 1: even after she stepped down. She helped co found the

702
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: National Political Congress of Black Women. She taught at Mount

703
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 1: Holyoke College Ine. She also campaigned for Jesse Jackson's presidential

704
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: bids and eighty four and eight, and when Bill Clinton

705
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:46,320
Speaker 1: nominated her as ambassador to Jamaica, she was like thanks,

706
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:50,400
Speaker 1: no thanks, because for health reasons she she didn't want

707
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:54,439
Speaker 1: to take it on, and she ended up in classic move,

708
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,600
Speaker 1: She settled in Florida, like you do uh, and from

709
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: there she wrote and let heard and until she died

710
00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:08,879
Speaker 1: on January one, two five. Yeah, I mean, I am

711
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: so grateful for what she did for voters, what she

712
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:16,600
Speaker 1: did for Americans, what she did for women and women

713
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 1: of color, the fact that she was able to so

714
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 1: successfully be on the national stage and be so vocal um.

715
00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:27,440
Speaker 1: But it does break my heart. But she felt so

716
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,840
Speaker 1: unwelcome finally in politics that she was like I'm done

717
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: because surely chose it was obviously not the type of

718
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: person to back down. So the fact that politics at

719
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,640
Speaker 1: that time were becoming so hostile that she was like,

720
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: I'll just go lecture and get out of here. Like

721
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:46,840
Speaker 1: that's that's very telling. Yeah. I mean because if she

722
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:51,240
Speaker 1: were sitting here in the podcast studio today, I would

723
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:56,040
Speaker 1: flip out. Um. And then I have a hunch she

724
00:48:57,440 --> 00:49:01,399
Speaker 1: would be a little mystified at how celebratory we are,

725
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,719
Speaker 1: because she said in her autobiography quote that I am

726
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:07,600
Speaker 1: a national figure because I was the first person in

727
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 1: one hundred ninety two years to be at once a congressman,

728
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,440
Speaker 1: black and a woman. Proves I would think that our

729
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 1: society is not yet either just or free. And that

730
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:24,839
Speaker 1: is the exact reason why she says repeatedly that she

731
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:30,360
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be remembered solely as being the first

732
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:34,440
Speaker 1: African American woman elected to US Congress. I think she

733
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:37,239
Speaker 1: would be so much more excited to hear us talk

734
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 1: about her record of advocating for UH domestic workers, for immigrants,

735
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:49,240
Speaker 1: for women of all colors, UM, for education and children

736
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 1: in this country. Um. You know that's where she found

737
00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:58,160
Speaker 1: her power and inspiration. Well, in one final quote of

738
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:01,960
Speaker 1: hers that this makes me think of is sort of

739
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,399
Speaker 1: another way that she has phrased the whole thing of

740
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 1: you know, I want to be remembered as someone who

741
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:10,560
Speaker 1: fought for change in the twentieth century. At one point,

742
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 1: she also said, I want to be remembered as a

743
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,600
Speaker 1: woman who was herself, you know, I mean she she

744
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:24,319
Speaker 1: never compromised at all who she was. And oh man,

745
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 1: if you could just get only you could like bottle

746
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:30,799
Speaker 1: up Shirley Chisholm's character, you know, and sell it. I'd

747
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,600
Speaker 1: take it like a vitamin every day, oh as would I.

748
00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:38,759
Speaker 1: And so I have really high hopes for this biopic

749
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,399
Speaker 1: that Anika Nanni Rose is supposedly working on. She's set

750
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:47,520
Speaker 1: to produce and star in it, and I will definitely

751
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:51,200
Speaker 1: eat that up if and when it comes to theata's

752
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:55,399
Speaker 1: absolutely um So, listeners, we want to know from you

753
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:59,440
Speaker 1: had you known about Shirley Chisholm. Are you listening to

754
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:02,920
Speaker 1: this episode owed in Brooklyn, possibly in bed sty and

755
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:05,680
Speaker 1: feeling a whole new significance for where you are? I

756
00:51:05,719 --> 00:51:09,160
Speaker 1: hope you are, so let us know your thoughts. Mom

757
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com is our email address.

758
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,400
Speaker 1: You can also tweet us at mom Stuff podcast or

759
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: messages on Facebook. And we've got a couple of messages

760
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:27,799
Speaker 1: to share with you right now. I have a letter

761
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:32,400
Speaker 1: here from Grace in response to our flight attendant episode. Uh.

762
00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:34,640
Speaker 1: She said, I was a flight attendant for just under

763
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 1: two years, from early two thousand and four through late

764
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:39,840
Speaker 1: two thousand five. I was happy to hear you speak

765
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:42,960
Speaker 1: about the profession because it is ultra glamorized, but is

766
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:46,200
Speaker 1: not at all what people think it is. Here are

767
00:51:46,239 --> 00:51:49,719
Speaker 1: just a few things I have to say about my experience.

768
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:54,360
Speaker 1: Number one, sexual harassment. I'm average looking at best, and

769
00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:57,800
Speaker 1: I got inappropriate comments from passengers as well as pilots.

770
00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:01,439
Speaker 1: I even had one pilot send me a Panis pick

771
00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:04,879
Speaker 1: on an overnight. I told him if he ever contacted

772
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:08,920
Speaker 1: me again, I would get him fired and blacklisted. Sadly,

773
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:11,719
Speaker 1: no idea if I could actually do that. Our airline

774
00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:15,840
Speaker 1: didn't have weight limits technically, but they absolutely did not

775
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,840
Speaker 1: hire larger people, and we were expected to wear heels

776
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 1: when working, even in airports. Heels are so super practical

777
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 1: for people who were trained in CPR to save your

778
00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:29,400
Speaker 1: life doing heavy lifting, et cetera. Number two schedule, you

779
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,200
Speaker 1: have to bid for your desired schedule. This means you

780
00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,480
Speaker 1: work a different schedule every single month and when you

781
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 1: don't have much seniority, you work long trips. You're gone

782
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:39,040
Speaker 1: for four to five days and nights at a time

783
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:42,680
Speaker 1: and never get a regular schedule. It does improve a

784
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:45,000
Speaker 1: time on the job, but most people don't last more

785
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:50,080
Speaker 1: than a year. Number three pay I made under eighteen

786
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:53,239
Speaker 1: thousand my first year, barely more my second, and I

787
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:56,400
Speaker 1: didn't sleep at my home for over two hundred and

788
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,640
Speaker 1: fifty days a year. Pay is based on hours in

789
00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:03,399
Speaker 1: the lane. Neither pilots or flight attendants are making an

790
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:06,120
Speaker 1: hourly wage until the plane door is closed, and they

791
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:09,719
Speaker 1: stopped getting paid when the door opens. Yeah, while you

792
00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:13,240
Speaker 1: are boarding andy planing, we aren't getting paid. This also

793
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:15,200
Speaker 1: means the time we take to to get to the

794
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:17,640
Speaker 1: airport early, which is required to check all of our

795
00:53:17,680 --> 00:53:20,720
Speaker 1: safety equipment, et cetera, is time we aren't getting paid.

796
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:23,880
Speaker 1: When on overnights we get a super small stipend to

797
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:28,239
Speaker 1: help with food costs. Number four free flights depending on

798
00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: your airline. You don't really fly for free. I got

799
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:33,719
Speaker 1: discounted flights and the rates were different depending on what

800
00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:36,640
Speaker 1: airline you flew. You were always stand by and they

801
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:39,360
Speaker 1: oversell all flights and I had to dress up on

802
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,800
Speaker 1: top of which I didn't make nearly enough money that

803
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,160
Speaker 1: I could afford to travel, even at a discount number

804
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:50,000
Speaker 1: five turnover. Because the schedule sucks, the pay sucks, you

805
00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:52,759
Speaker 1: are gone all the time, et cetera. Most people don't

806
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:54,920
Speaker 1: last longer than a year. Seems like a lot of

807
00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:57,399
Speaker 1: companies do it on purpose because flight attendants makes so

808
00:53:57,560 --> 00:53:59,480
Speaker 1: little their first five years on the job that it

809
00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:03,279
Speaker 1: keeps labor costs lower for them. And this is just

810
00:54:03,320 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 1: scratching the surface for me. I know people who stayed

811
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:07,720
Speaker 1: with it, and once on the job about five years,

812
00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:10,239
Speaker 1: you have more seniority, which improves the job quite a bit.

813
00:54:10,760 --> 00:54:13,160
Speaker 1: I couldn't do it. I was in a relationship and

814
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 1: the travel made it hard. We've been together eleven years now.

815
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:18,960
Speaker 1: He rules and couldn't deal with what felt like a

816
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 1: really abusive job. If you haven't already, please check out

817
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:26,560
Speaker 1: the passenger shaming on Instagram. It's a riot. Love your show,

818
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:30,000
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, and thanks for your insights. Grace.

819
00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:34,560
Speaker 1: I have a letter here from brief subject line trans

820
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:39,000
Speaker 1: pants suits. She writes, your recent show about pants suits

821
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:42,239
Speaker 1: struck a particular chord with me. Finding a suit as

822
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:45,759
Speaker 1: a transgender woman is hard. First, we have to fight

823
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:48,880
Speaker 1: the societal norm that all trans women wear skirts or dresses.

824
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:53,839
Speaker 1: Seven type transgender pants suits into Google. My first three

825
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,600
Speaker 1: results are from a site about dealing with transgender victims,

826
00:54:56,600 --> 00:54:59,759
Speaker 1: of assault suits for trans men and a lawsuit about

827
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:01,960
Speaker 1: a tra 's girl in a locker room. That's not

828
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:05,319
Speaker 1: helpful at all, Google. Then we have to fight other

829
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:08,319
Speaker 1: trans people saying that we aren't trans enough because we

830
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:10,440
Speaker 1: want to wear a suit. And finally, we have to

831
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:12,879
Speaker 1: find someone who is actually decent at fitting a suit

832
00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:15,960
Speaker 1: onto our larger frames. Shout out to my tall and

833
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:19,760
Speaker 1: plus sized lady friends, and that probably involves custom tailoring,

834
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:22,880
Speaker 1: which is just another expense. There's a lot of info

835
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:25,759
Speaker 1: for trans women on how to be hyper feminine, but

836
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:28,040
Speaker 1: very little for those of us who want to express

837
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 1: a different side of our femininity. Our society is starting

838
00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:33,560
Speaker 1: to understand that sis gender women can be whatever they

839
00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:36,360
Speaker 1: want to be, so hopefully we can start to admit

840
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 1: that a trans woman's favorite color doesn't have to be pink.

841
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:44,440
Speaker 1: And we also offered a helpful ps In response to

842
00:55:44,719 --> 00:55:49,040
Speaker 1: our episode on period Tracker apps, she said using natural

843
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,319
Speaker 1: family planning was the best decision my wife and I

844
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:55,239
Speaker 1: ever made, enabling us to discover some medical problems that

845
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,920
Speaker 1: would have gone unnoticed otherwise but showed up when we

846
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:00,520
Speaker 1: tracked her cycle. I would definitely to give a shout

847
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:04,520
Speaker 1: out to the Creighton Method natural family planning as the

848
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:07,520
Speaker 1: super cheap method nothing more than a piece of paper

849
00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:11,719
Speaker 1: and pen required. Well, thank you Brief for all that

850
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:16,279
Speaker 1: insight and love back to you and listeners if you've

851
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:18,640
Speaker 1: got anything to share with us Moms stuff at how

852
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com is our email address and for

853
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