名人轶事38:Shirley Chisholm

Broadcast: February 20, 2005

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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.