Shirley Chisholm: The first black woman to run for America president

Shirley Chisholm 

Decades before Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm.  

Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman to run for the American president for a major political party; she was ahead of her time.

 Forty years ago this week, Chisholm made history as she announces her candidacy for the White house.

She was a pioneer for generations, a woman of many firsts- The first American Congress woman, the first African American to run for president, The first woman to run for the president.

Shirley was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New york. She spent her childhood living with her grandmother in Barbados before returning to her parents in New York.

After qualifying as a teacher, she worked in child care, where she developed interest in politics. She served in New york state Assembly, then made history in 1968 becoming the 1st African American woman elected to the US Congress.

Some of Shirley Chisholm Wisdom are:

"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folded chair".

"Tremendous amount of talents are lost to our society just because that talent wears skirt".

"In the end, anti-black, anti-female and all forms of  discriminations are equivalent to the same thing- anti-human".

She served 7 years in congress, retiring in 1982 after which she returned to teaching.

Her answer when asked , how she'd like to be remembered was "I'd like them to say Shirley Chisholm had guts".

She died in 2005, at the age of 80.