Yesterday Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm would have turned 92 years old. Chisholm devoted her life to serve for anyone feeling injustice no matter your race, gender or sexual orientation.  She believed to be a catalyst for change and had she not pave the way perhaps this world would be different. She remained unbought and unbossed, fighting for justice for all.

Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924. Chisholm spent part of her childhood in Barbados with her grandmother. Chisholm graduated from Brooklyn College in 1946 and began her career as a teacher. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in elementary education from Columbia University. She served as director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center from 1953 to 1959, and as an educational consultant for New York City’s Bureau of Child Welfare from 1959 to 1964.

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first black congresswoman representing New York State in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms. In 1972 she made a historic run to become the democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States, becoming the first major-party African-American candidate to do so. Despite not winning the nomination, she helped paved the way for the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to enter high offices in government. Chisholm ultimately left Congress in 1983 to go back to teaching. She died in Florida in 2005.

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