Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Shirley Chisholm’s Presidential Campaign
“Congresswoman Chisholm was a trailblazer, a champion of the poor and marginalized, and a role model to me and so many other women in politics, especially Black women,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13). “It brings me great joy to celebrate Congresswoman Chisholm’s legacy 50 years after her historic presidential run. It is my hope that my colleagues will join me in celebrating Congresswoman Chisholm’s life and achievements in each part of the country she touched.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) released a statement Tuesday commemorating the 50th anniversary of the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign. Congresswoman Chisholm was a mentor to Congresswoman Lee and the first Black woman to run for president.
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, representing the New York’s 12th Congressional District in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. On Jan. 25, 1972, she declared her candidacy for president of the United States — historic in nature as the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president from one of the two major political parties.
In her closing remarks, she appealed to all those who have felt neglected, ignored, and shunned to join her “in an effort to reshape our society and regain control of our destiny as we go down the Chisholm Trail for 1972.”
Lee plans to celebrate Chisholm’s legacy by encouraging her colleagues to join her in hosting events along the Chisholm Trail — locations across the country that were integral to Chisholm’s life and legacy.
“Congresswoman Chisholm was a trailblazer, a champion of the poor and marginalized, and a role model to me and so many other women in politics, especially Black women,” said Lee. “It brings me great joy to celebrate Congresswoman Chisholm’s legacy 50 years after her historic presidential run. It is my hope that my colleagues will join me in celebrating Congresswoman Chisholm’s life and achievements in each part of the country she touched.
“I was fortunate enough to learn from Congresswoman Chisholm as a mentor. She encouraged me to run for office. I take her lessons with me every day I go to work on behalf of my constituents in California’s 13th Congressional district. She was not only a role model and mentor, but she was also a close friend and confidant.
“Fifty years after her presidential campaign, we are still facing some of the same challenges she sought to defeat. From voting rights, to eradicating poverty and dismantling gender and racial injustice, we must keep Congresswoman Chisholm’s philosophy of being ‘unbought and unbossed’ with us as we fight for a more just future.”
Chisholm was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. She served in Congress from 1968 until retirement in 1983. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, 10 years after her death in in Florida at age 80.
This report is from Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s press office.
