Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1969 and was re-elected six times until she retired in 1983. While in office, she spoke out for civil rights and women’s rights, advocated for the poor, and opposed the Vienam War. In 1972, she was the first African American person to run for the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States. In 2015, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Chisholm wrote the autobiographical works Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).