Shirley Chisholm

Biography

Shirley Chisholm was a trailblazing American politician who made history as the first black woman elected to the US Congress in 1968. She represented New York's 12th congressional district, a stronghold of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major-party presidential nomination, running for the Democratic Party's nod.