She also made history. In 1968 Chisholm became the first Black woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.  As a Member of Congress, she did not quietly wait her turn as was customary.  She pounded a few tables to get the committees and bills she wanted.

 

To explain Chisholm’s political rise, Curwood, a professor of African-American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky, weighs into thirty years of Brooklyn Democratic Party politics.  As someone who was once deeply involved in Brooklyn politics (in later decades), I thought the book needed to provide more context.  The battles Curwood describes were part of a larger struggle between traditional and reform political clubs throughout New York, and indeed other parts of the country.  Which side won where is part of a larger story in which Chisholm was a beneficiary.

 

The book is much better on Black politics, of which there were many varieties.  Black male politicians believed in Black power, but not womanpower, let alone feminist power. They tried to exclude Chisholm, but she wouldn’t let them ignore her.

 

The words in the subtitle – Black Feminist Power Politics – appear throughout the book, but are never really defined. I wanted Curwood to distinguish Black feminism from feminism in general.  As a white feminist who worked for Chisholm’s 1972 Presidential campaign, I can’t think of anything Chisholm said that I disagreed with.

 

I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago when I read that Chisholm was thinking of running for President.  When I offered my support, I received some buttons and bumper stickers in return. Illinois didn’t have a presidential preference primary. Individuals ran for delegate.  They could run uncommitted or identify the candidate to whom they were committed.  In order to get Chisholm’s name on the ballot, I had to run for delegate.  

 

I ended up going to the 1972 Democratic Convention as an alternate – a story you can read elsewhere since it’s not in Curwood’s book. Suffice it to say that I became well acquainted with the politics of running for President when the political leaders don’t want you but the people do.

 

By 1982 Chisholm said she was tired of being “misunderstood, maligned and sometimes abused.” (p. 334)  She didn’t run for re-election.  Her last disappointment was seeing an old political enemy win the primary for her seat. 

 

Chisholm relocated to Buffalo to live with her second husband, but spent most of her time teaching at different colleges and giving speeches around the country. She didn’t entirely leave politics.  She supported Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 campaigns for President even though he had spurned hers in 1972.  She constantly promoted getting more Black women into politics.

 

Her husband died in 1986.  Chisholm moved to Florida in 1992.  She cut her ties with Brooklyn only after she died in 2005.  At age 80, she returned to Buffalo to be buried next to her husband.

 

Shirley Chisholm’s autographed photo hangs on my wall.  I shot that photo when she spoke at Malcolm X Jr. College in Chicago during her 1972 Presidential campaign.  Jesse Jackson had declined to have her speak to his Saturday morning meeting at Operation PUSH.  She was also kind enough to give me a back cover blurb for my 2000 book, A Room at a Time.   

 

Shirley Chisholm remains one of my favorite people.   If you read Curwood’s book, she might become one of yours.

 

Copyright © 2023 Jo Freeman