Ms. Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first major-party Black presidential candidate, and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. She represented New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms. Before she entered politics, she was director of two nursery schools and was an educational consultant. She worked to expand food stamps, and was instrumental in the creation of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. She served on the Education and Labor Committee, and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus. She ran for President in 1972, and later was elected Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. After her retirement from Congress, she was named to the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College, where she taught politics and sociology. In 1990, Ms. Chisholm, along with 15 others, including Dorothy Height (see our Day 27 profile), founded the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom. She was the author of two books: Unbought and Unbossed, and The Good Fight. “The Black man must step forward, but that doesn't mean the Black woman must step back.” –Shirley Chisholm
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