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VOICE ONE:
I’m Gwen Outen.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA Special English. 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 elected to United
States Congress and the first black woman to run for president of the United
States. However, her life was filled with much 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 in nineteen twenty-
four. She was the oldest of four daughters. Her father was a factory worker
from Guyana. He loved to read. Her mother was from the British West Indies
island of Barbados. She made clothes and cleaned other people’s houses.
Shirley’s parents had very little money. They wanted their daughters to get
a good education and to have a better life. When Shirley was three years old
her parents sent her and her sisters to live 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 in Barbados 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 used to always
tell me, you may not be loved by certain forces in a society and you have to
understand why. But always speak the truth.”
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen thirty-four Shirley moved back to Brooklyn. She was ten years
old. She continued to do very well in school. She later graduated 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 ended almost thirty years later.
As a young woman, Shirley decided to become a teacher. She believed she could
improve society by helping children. She worked for seven years at a child-
care center in the Harlem area of New York City. She attended Columbia
University at night and received an advanced degree in early childhood
education in nineteen fifty-two. She became known as an expert in children
and early education. From nineteen fifty-nine to nineteen sixty-four Shirley
Chisholm was an education official in the day care division of the city’s
office of child 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 four years.
In nineteen sixty-eight she announced she would run for the United States
Congress. She was elected from the newly created Twelfth District of New York
City. She became the first black woman elected to Congress. She represented a
poor area of Brooklyn called Bedford-Stuyvesant.
In Congress, Miz Chisholm was assigned to the House Agriculture Committee.
She protested this assignment. She felt it was not important to the poor
people of the city that she represented. She was moved to the Veterans
Affairs Committee. She later served on the Education and Labor Committee, the
position she wanted. In nineteen seventy-seven she joined the important House
Rules Committee.
VOICE ONE:
Shirley Chisholm was very different from other members of Congress. 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 Caribbean accent while
living with her grandmother in Barbados. Her voice was strong. She spoke with
power. She said her greatest tool was her mouth. She was not afraid to say
the things others would not say before Congress and the public.
