Just as Fannie Lou Hamer’s historic appearance before the credentials committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention paved the way for history being made right now, this moment has been infused by the groundbreaking legacy of the eternally unbought, unbossed U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm. Rep. Chisholm, the Brooklyn-born daughter of immigrants from Barbados and Guyana, was honored multiple times during this year’s Democratic National Convention for her roles as the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968 and, in 1972, the first Black American to seek a major party presidential nomination and first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. She fearlessly blazed the trail for more than a half-century of leaders from both major parties who have come after her. This week many people celebrated the direct line of descent from Rep. Shirley Chisholm to Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman elected vice president of the United States, who has now officially become the first Black and South Asian woman named a major party presidential nominee.
In her January 1972 speech announcing her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President, Rep. Chisholm said: “I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and I’m equally proud of that . . . I am the candidate of the people of America. And my presence before you, now, symbolizes a new era in American political history.” She stood firm in her belief that our nation was ready for change. As she said, “I believe we are intelligent enough to recognize the talent, energy, and dedication which all Americans, including women and minorities, have to offer.” And she told the nation she believed it was time “to open our society to the energies and abilities of countless new kinds of groups of Americans” – she included women, Black and Brown Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and young people – “so that they can develop their own full potential and thereby participate equally and enthusiastically in building a strong and just society, rich in its diversity and noble in its quality of life.”
At the end of that speech she said: “We Americans are all fellow countrymen, one day confronting the judgment of history in our country. We are all God’s children and the will of each of us is as precious as the will of the most powerful General or corporate millionaire. Our will – our will can create a new America . . . one where there’s freedom from violence and war at home and abroad; where there’s freedom from poverty and discrimination; where there exists at least a feeling that we are making progress and assurance for everyone, medical care, employment, and decent housing; where we more decisively clean up our streets, our water, and our air; where we work together, Black and White, to rebuild our neighborhoods, and to make our cities quiet, attractive, and efficient; and, fundamentally, where we live in the confidence that every man and every woman in America has at long last the opportunity to become all that he was created of being, such as his ability . . . All of you who share this vision, from New York to California, from Wisconsin to Florida, are brothers and sisters on the road to national unity and a new America. Those of you – those of you who were locked outside of the convention hall in 1968, those of you who can now vote for the first time, those of you who agree with me that the institutions of this country belong to all of the people who inhabit it, those of you who have been neglected, left out, ignored, forgotten, or shunned aside for whatever reason: Give me your help at this hour.”
As Rep. Chisholm looked back at all those who had never been allowed to participate and vote in the past, she also looked forward to all those who would now be included in the political process in the future. Her positive vision for a new America still resonates. So too does her unwavering belief that we must have a nation where everyone participates, everyone is valued, and everyone’s voices and votes count. When Vice President Harris gave her landmark speech accepting her own nomination for the Presidency, she did not have to focus on the history of her candidacy. But she did follow in the footsteps of Representative Shirley Chisholm and the generations of Americans before and after her who have insisted that we will keep moving forward and keep breaking each remaining barrier and ceiling to assure history keeps being made.