Shirley Chisholm

Hello! My name is Shirley Chisholm. I was born on November 30th, 1924, in a busy place called Brooklyn, New York. My parents came to America from the Caribbean islands. When I was a little girl, my parents sent me and my sisters to live with our grandmother in Barbados. It was sunny and beautiful there! My grandmother was very important to me. She taught me to stand up tall, be proud of who I am, and always speak my mind. Those lessons stayed with me my whole life and helped me become the person I was meant to be.

When I came back to Brooklyn, I loved going to school. I was a great student and I especially loved to debate. Debating means I was good at sharing my ideas and talking about them with other people. I studied hard and went to Brooklyn College, where I graduated in 1946. After college, I became a teacher because I loved working with children. I even became the director of a daycare center. I wanted to make sure every child had a safe and happy place to learn and grow. Helping families was my passion.

As I got older, I saw that some things in my community weren't fair, and I wanted to help fix them. So, I decided to get into politics to make a bigger difference. My motto was 'Unbought and Unbossed.' That was my way of saying that I worked for the people, and no one could tell me what to do but them! In 1968, I did something no one had ever done before. I was elected to the United States Congress, becoming the first-ever African American woman to get there! It was a very proud moment. A few years later, in 1972, I decided to run to be the President of the United States. I was the first Black woman from a major party to try. I wanted to show everyone that a woman, and a Black woman at that, could lead our country.

I served in Congress for many years, always fighting for people who didn't have a voice. I worked hard to get healthy food for families and to create better opportunities for women and people of color. I lived to be 80 years old, and I am so proud of the path I created for others to follow. People remember me as a trailblazer, which is someone who is the first to do something important. My story shows that you should always use your voice to fight for what is right, no matter who you are or where you come from.