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VOICE ONE:
I’m Gwen Outen.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA SpecialEnglish. Today we tell about Shirley Chisholm. She was an educator,activist and politician.
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VOICE ONE:
Shirley Chisholm is best known as the first black woman electedto United States Congress and the first black woman to run forpresident of the United States. However, her life was filled withmuch more than being the first black woman to do important things.She believed in being a person to fight for change. All her life,she worked to improve the lives of others.
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VOICE TWO:
Shirley Anita Saint Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York innineteen twenty-four. She was the oldest of four daughters. Herfather was a factory worker from Guyana. He loved to read. Hermother was from the British West Indies island of Barbados. She madeclothes and cleaned other people’s houses.
Shirley’s parents had very little money. They wanted theirdaughters to get a good education and to have a better life. WhenShirley was three years old her parents sent her and her sisters tolive with their grandmother in Barbados.
Shirley received a good education from the British school system.She enjoyed the years she lived with her grandmother. Her family inBarbados was a strong, organized group that believed in education.Shirley always remembered the words her grandmother spoke.
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“When I was reared in the British West Indies my grandmother usedto always tell me, you may not be loved by certain forces in asociety and you have to understand why. But always speak the truth.”
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen thirty-four Shirley moved back to Brooklyn. She wasten years old. She continued to do very well in school. She latergraduated from Brooklyn College with honors. In nineteen forty-nine,she married Conrad Chisholm who worked as a private investigator.Together they took part in local politics. Their marriage endedalmost thirty years later.
As a young woman, Shirley decided to become a teacher. Shebelieved she could improve society by helping children. She workedfor seven years at a child-care center in the Harlem area of NewYork City. She attended Columbia University at night and received anadvanced degree in early childhood education in nineteen fifty-two.She became known as an expert in children and early education. Fromnineteen fifty-nine to nineteen sixty-four Shirley Chisholm was aneducation official in the day care division of the city’s office ofchild welfare.
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VOICE TWO:
In ninety sixty-four Shirley Chisholm’s political career began.She was elected to the New York State Assembly. She served for fouryears.
In nineteen sixty-eight she announced she would run for theUnited States Congress. She was elected from the newly createdTwelfth District of New York City. She became the first black womanelected to Congress. She represented a poor area of Brooklyn calledBedford-Stuyvesant.
In Congress, Miz Chisholm was assigned to the House AgricultureCommittee. She protested this assignment. She felt it was notimportant to the poor people of the city that she represented. Shewas moved to the Veterans Affairs Committee. She later served on theEducation and Labor Committee, the position she wanted. In nineteenseventy-seven she joined the important House Rules Committee.
VOICE ONE:
Shirley Chisholm was very different from other members ofCongress. She looked different. Her hair was a big cloud of curls.She wore very large eyeglasses. And she had dark skin.
She also spoke differently. She had developed a minor Caribbeanaccent while living with her grandmother in Barbados. Her voice wasstrong. She spoke with power. She said her greatest tool was hermouth. She was not afraid to say the things others would not saybefore Congress and the public.
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“But, my friends, I might be strong for some persons in thisaudience, but I believe in telling it like it is.” ((applause))
VOICE TWO:
Shirley Chisholm spoke strongly for the poor and for women. Sheworked for civil rights for African Americans. She opposed theVietnam War. In nineteen sixty-nine she helped form theCongressional Black Caucus. She also was a member of the NationalOrganization for Women. Miz Chisholm was an activist for people ofcolor, including Native Americans and Spanish-speaking immigrants.She often spoke about cultural and social issues.
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“Increasing immigration to the United States suggests that we doface( — and we better own up to – we do face) new social andcultural problems as these new Americans are integrated into oursociety. And because most of the new immigrants are people of color,cultural adjustments must be made by all groups in America if we areto learn to live together as one nation.”
VOICE ONE:
Miz Chisholm wrote a book about her life in nineteen seventycalled “Unbought and Unbossed.” She refused to be defined by partypolitics or racial comparisons. Sometimes this worked against her.
In nineteen seventy-two ShirleyChisholm announced that she would run for president of the UnitedStates. Many people thought it was a strange thing to do. MizChisholm said during her life in politics she faced morediscrimination as a woman than as a black person.
Shirley Chisholm became the first woman and the first blackperson to carry out a presidential campaign within one of the majorparties. When she announced her candidacy for the Democratic Partynomination for president this is what she said: “I am not thecandidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am notthe candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I ama woman and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate ofany political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of thepeople.”
Miz Chisholm did not win the Democratic primaries or thenomination. She said she did not run for president because sheexpected to win. She ran to make a point.
In nineteen seventy-three Shirley Chisholm wrote another book,”The Good Fight.” In that book she told of her reasons for runningfor president even though she did not expect to win. She said: “Thenext time a woman runs, or a black, or a Jew or anyone from a groupthat the country is ‘not ready’ to elect to the highest office, Ibelieve he or she will be taken seriously from the start.”
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VOICE TWO:
Shirley Chisholm left Congress in nineteen eighty-two afterfourteen years. She said many voters did not understand her. Shesaid her influence as a truthful, tough politician was decreasing inconservative times. Also, she wanted to spend more time with hersecond husband, Arthur Hardwick.
Miz Chisholm went on to teach at Mount Holyoke College in SouthHadley, Massachusetts. Years after leaving Congress, she continuedto be invited to speak before many groups and organizations.
A reporter once asked Miz Chisholm how she wanted to beremembered. She said she did not want to be remembered as thenation’s first black congresswoman. She wanted to be remembered as abrave person, a person who created change.
VOICE ONE:
Shirley Chisholm died January first, two thousand five. Shesuffered a series of strokes. She was eighty years old.
Shirley Chisholm loved her country. She wanted to serve allAmerica, not just African Americans and women. Her work for thecommunity of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the state of New York and thenation continues through the changes she helped make in Americansociety.
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“America is a wonderful land. It’s no question about it. That iswhy every group from across the waters tries to come to America. Iam hopeful. Oh God am I hopeful that before I die that I will seethat America will move toward a period of real enlightenment (notrhetorical enlightenment, real enlightenment) and that when we arefinally faced with the choice of exclusion or inclusion we willchoose inclusion because that’s what America is suppose to be allabout.”
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written and produced by Lawan Davis. I’m DougJohnson.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for People in Americain VOA Special English.
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