... on Shirley Chisolm (day 9)

You thought I was kidding when I said I'd be doing posts for National Women's History Month. I do not kid about such things. So now that I've caught up let's do some digging on the groundbreaking work of Shirley Chisolm.


So strap in because....

A moment of real talk here, Shirley Chisolm is the definition of pushing forward for what you want in many ways. As well as a definition of a life spent putting other before yourself. 

To start off, when someone begins their career as a teacher, you already know you're dealing with a selfless individual. This is someone who dedicated her life to making sure kids' minds were full and that they got an education that would make a good life available to them. She was an elementary teacher on top of it. Definitely not something I could manage. 

This is pretty much what all kids look like to me lately

But eventually she decided she could do more and she ran for congress, becoming the first black woman to successfully be elected to the House of representatives. She served for 7 terms. 

Chisolm was originally assigned to the Forestry Committee in congress and then said F* that noise before demanding reassignment. She then went from Vets Affairs to Education where she fought for the rights of students and teachers for years and even founded the Congressional Black caucus. The woman had serious guts and the charisma to back it up. 

Pictured here, the metaphorical tool Shirley Chisolm used on the glass ceiling

In her continued quest to do good she even became the first black woman to run for President on a major party ticket and though she didn't win (likely due in part to racism and sexism as this was the 70's, she was still a vocal supporter of minority education rights and a VEHEMENT enemy of the draft. Seems like an all around cool lady. 

And so I encourage folks everywhere to take a minute and look up Shirley Chisolm. Do some deep dives because she's worth the effort and worth covering in much greater detail than I did here. Here are a couple of links to get you going but Google is always your friend, as are the libraries in your community and in your schools. Ms. Chisolm would encourage you to do your own research I believe. 

http://www.history.com/topics/shirley-chisholm

http://www.biography.com/people/shirley-chisholm-9247015#personal-life-and-legacy

Tomorrow we head to the sciences to discuss the accomplishments of a woman who helped us learn more about ourselves than many of you realize.