1. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc
North San Diego Alumnae Chapter
Heritage and Archives Presentation
Nicole Scott, Co-Chair
Patricia P Watson, Co-Chair
April 8, 2017

2. The month of April pays tribute to Soror Shirley Anita St Hill Chisolm
Heritage Moment….
The month of April pays tribute to Soror Shirley Anita St Hill Chisolm

3. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”

4. Early Years
Shirley Chisolm was born November 20, 1926 in Brooklyn New York to immigrant parents from the Caribbean. When Shirley turned five, she and her two sisters were sent to  to live with their maternal grandmother. There they lived in Barbados where she attended school in a one-room schoolhouse. She remained there until 1934, and as a result, spoke with a recognizable West Indian accent throughout her life.
Graduating with an excellent academic record from a Brooklyn girls' high school, Soror Chisholm earned a scholarship to study sociology at Brooklyn College. She quickly became active in political circles, joining the Harriet Tubman Society, serving as an Urban League volunteer, and winning prizes in debate.

5. Becoming….
Interest in her community led her to attend city meetings, where, as a student, she astonished older adults by confronting civic leaders with questions about the quality of government services to her predominantly Black neighborhood. While beginning to establish her profile in her community, she also impressed her professors with a powerful speaking style and was encouraged to enter politics. She received her sociology degree with honors in While working in a nursery school she studied for a master's degree in elementary education at Columbia University where she met Conrad Chisholm, whom she married in Two years later she received her master's degree in early childhood education.
Shirley and Conrad Chisolm

6. New York State Assembly
Soror Chisholm was a member of the League of Women Voters and the Bedford- Stuyvesant Political League before she ran for the New York State Assembly in When she won, she became the second African-American woman to serve on the state legislature. During her tenure from to 1968, she focused on unemployment benefits for domestic workers and education initiatives, proposed a bill to provide state aid to day-care centers and voted to increase funding for schools on a per-pupil basis.

7. History!!!!!
In 1968, After finishing her term in the legislature, Soror Chisholm campaigned to represent New York's Twelfth Congressional District. Her campaign slogan was "Fighting Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and Unbossed." She won the election and became the first African American woman elected to Congress.  During her first term in Congress, Soror Chisholm hired a mostly African American, all- female staff and spoke out for civil rights, women's rights, the poor and against the Vietnam War. In 1970, she was elected to a second term. A much sought-after public speaker she remarked that, "Women in this country must become revolutionaries. We must refuse to accept the old, the traditional roles and stereotypes." 
Shirley Chisholm became the first African American female member of Congress .

8. National & International Perspectives…
In the area of national security and foreign policy, Soror Chisholm worked for the revocation of Internal Security Act of She opposed the American involvement in the Vietnam War and the expansion of weapon developments. During the Jimmy Carter administration, she called for better treatment of Haitian refugees.

9. At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.
Shirley Chisholm
Powerful Women
Six of the 12 new female members of the United States House of Representatives in the office of the Speaker of the House. The women are (l- r): Martha Griffiths, Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Holtzman, Barbara Jordan, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, and Bella Abzug.

10. Founding Member of the Congressional Black Caucus
In January of 1969, newly-elected African American representatives of the 77th Congress joined six incumbents to form the Democratic Select Committee. The committee was renamed the Congressional Black Caucus, and the CBC was born in 1971. Founding members were Representatives Shirley A. Chisholm, William L. Clay, Sr., George W. Collins, John Conyers, Jr., Ronald V. Dellums, Charles C. Diggs, Jr., Augustus F. Hawkins, Ralph H. Metcalfe, Parren J. Mitchell, Robert Nix, Charles B. Rangel, Louis Stokes, and D.C. Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy.  

11. Betty Shabazz, Dorothy I Height, Shirley Chisolm and Marian Anderson

12. Good Company…. Rosa Parks and Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm
Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm, Coretta Scott King
& Eleanor Holmes Norton

13. Soror Shirley Chisholm, a member of the Brooklyn Alumnae Chapter is surrounded by Delta Sigma Theta sorority members…

14. History!!!
In 1972, Soror Chisolm became the first African American candidate for a major party’s nomination for the President. Chisholm claimed that none of the other candidates represented the interests of African Americans or the inner city poor.

16. A Good Fight
Soror Chisholm’s campaign wasn’t easy. During the road to the primaries, she survived multiple assassination attempts, sued to make sure she would appear in televised debates and fought her way onto the primary ballots in 12 states. Though she didn’t win, in the end Soror Chisholm won 10 percent of the total vote at the Democratic National Convention, clearing a path for future candidates that weren't white or male.
She later wrote of her unsuccessful bid, “The next time a woman runs, or a black, or a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start… I ran because somebody had to do it first.”

17. With an uncompromising commitment to communities through SERVICE, LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT. Soror Chisolm also embodied …
Service:
Soror Chisholm served as a representative of New York’s 12th District from She served on the Education and Labor, Rules, and Veterans Affairs Committee.   Soror Chisholm also earned praise for her efforts on behalf of Black colleges, compulsory education, and minimum wage.  Leadership: She co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women in 1984 and worked vigorously for the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson in 1984 and Chisholm has authored two books, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).  Empowerment: She also served as Purington Chair at Massachusetts' Mount Holyoke College, where she taught politics and women's studies after serving in Congress. In 1985, she was a visiting scholar at Spelman College. In 1987, she retired from teaching. Chisholm's first marriage ended in divorce in February Later that year she married Arthur Hardwick, Jr., a former New York State Assemblyman. When her husband became injured in an automobile accident, Soror Chisolm announced her retirement from Congress in 1982 to care for her ailing husband who subsequently died in1986.

18. Senator Clinton didn’t crack the glass ceiling… Shirley Chisolm did!
Co-founder (NOW) National Organization for Women
Founding member (CBC) Congressional Black Caucus
Founding member-National Women's Political Caucus
Co-founded the National Congress of Black Women
(formerly known as the National Political Congress of Black Women)

19. 37th Black Heritage Forever Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service paid tribute to pioneering Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm with the issuance of a limited- edition 37th Black Heritage Forever Stamp in “Shirley Chisholm was a courageous and pioneering woman whose legacy lives on with the issuance of this special stamp,” said Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman. “We are proud to honor this great American who shattered barriers of race and gender. Shirley Chisholm fought for the rights of women and the poor as a true champion for justice and equality for all.”

20. Coming Soon…
Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose will produce as well as star in a film about Congresswoman
Shirley Anita St Hill-Chisholm.
With an efficient producing team, and an award-winning writing team, Armistead Johnson and Montserrat Mendez, Shirley Chisholm will be eloquently developed, changing the paradigm of how we ourselves can be a “Catalyst for Change.”

21. I want history to remember me
I want history to remember me... not as the first Black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a Black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.
I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That's how I'd like to be remembered…

22. Presidential Medal of Freedom
In 2015, Shirley Chisholm was posthumously awarded the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom
I ran because somebody had to do it first. In this country, everybody is supposed to be able to run for president, but that has never really been true.
Shirley Chisholm
Soror Shirley Anita Chisolm. We will always remember your contribution to our treasured history!

23. References
Callahan, Y. (2016). Anika Noni Rose to Produce and Star in Shirley Chisolm Film. grapevine.theroot.com
Chisolm, S. BrainyQuote.
Chisolm, Shirley A. Our Campaigns
Chisolm, Shirley. History.com.
Delta Sigma Theta.org. Heritage & Archives
Giddings, P. (1988). In Search of Sisterhood. Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement.
Lewis, D. (2016). 44 Years Ago, Shirley Chisholm Became the First Black Woman to Run For President. Smithsonian.org
Snyder, M. 12 Facts About Shirley Chisholm, The First African-American to Run For President.