Shirley Chisholm
Dead at 80

First Black Woman
Elected to Congress

By Zusha Elinson
Post Staff Writer

Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and a tireless voice for women and minorities, died Saturday near Daytona Beach. Florida. She was 80 years old.

“It was with deep sorrow that I learned of the death of my friend and mentor. Shirley Chisholm. Shirley’s courage, her determination and her commitment to justice were an inspiration to a generation.” said East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who worked with the late congresswoman during her presidential campaign.

Raised in Brooklyn, Chisholm was elected to the U.S. House in 1968 and served for seven straight terms.

“I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person In 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, 1 think, that our society is not yet either just or free,” she said upon her election.

During her first term in Congress, Chisholm hired an all-female staff and spoke out for civil rights, women’s rights, the poor and against the Vietnam War. In 1970, she was elected to a second term. She was a sought-after public speaker and cofounder of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

“Women in this country must become revolutionaries. We must refuse to accept the old, the traditional roles and stereotypes,” she said.

In 1972, she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a speech to voters, she said, “I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people.”

The 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami was the first major convention in which any woman was considered for the presidential nomination. Although she did not win the nomination, she received 151 of the delegates’ votes.

“I would never have gotten involved with politics if she had not run for President in 1972. As a young African American woman, she offered me a reason to get involved in our democracy, and I will always be grateful for that,” said Lee.

Born Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, she was the oldest of four girls born to parents who had emigrated from the West Indies, and who barely subsisted on their wages from factory work and housecleaning.

When Chisholm was three, her parents, desiring a better life for their daughters, sent Shirley and her sisters to Barbados to be reared by their maternal grandmother.

At the age of ten Chisholm returned to Brooklyn, where she was an outstanding student. Later, at Brooklyn College, she majored in sociology.

In 1949, after graduating from college. Chisholm attended evening classes at Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in child education. Meanwhile, she taught at a Harlem nursery school, and later acted as supervisor of the largest nursery school network in New York.

Chisholm’s political career took off in 1964, when she won by a landslide her campaign for the New York State Assembly. As an assemblyperson (1965- 1968), she authored legislation that instituted SEEK (search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge), a program that provided college funding to disadvantaged youths, and successfully introduced a bill that secured unemployment insurance for domestics and day-care providers.

A member of congress until 1982, she served on a number of committees including Education and Labor, and campaigned for a higher minimum wage and federal funding for day-care facilities.

She retired from politics after her last term in office. She received many honorary degrees, and her awards include Alumna of the Year, Brooklyn College; Key Woman of the Year; Outstanding Work in the Field of Child Welfare; and Woman of Achievement. She continues her work as a lecturer, teacher and political mentor.

“Shirley’s willingness to challenge the status quo changed Congress and the face of American politics. She fought ‘the good fight’ and she remained ‘unbossed and unbought.’ Shirley, we’re going to miss you,” said Lee.

Sandre Swanson Seeking 16th Assembly District Seat

By Gail Berkley
Editor

For over 30 years Sandré Swanson has been a dedicated public servant and now he is ready to put his skills to work in Sacramento, specifically as member of the assembly representing the 16th District.

Swanson has filed papers with the Secretary of State’s of flee stating his intention to run for the 16th AD seat and held a successful fundraiser last month at his Alameda home.

Swanson retired from hi position as Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Barbara Lee last year. Lee and former Congressman Ronald V. Dellums, for whom Swanson served as District Director prior to Dellums’ retirement from the House, have endorsed him.

Swanson said that since his retirement he has received several job offers, but “it became clear to me that public service is my passion.” Swanson said he wants to carry on the proud tradition of service to the AD begun by the late Byron Rumford, and carried on by the late John Miller, Elihu Harris and Lee. If elected Swanson would be the only African American in the Assembly from Northern California.

Swanson said he will formally announce his candidacy soon. While the election is not until June 6, 2006, he said he realizes it’s important to start fundraising now. “The reality is that these races can end up costing $425,000,” he said. You have to be competitive and get your platform before people so they can make intelligent decisions.”

He said he will be a strong advocate for the district priorities with an emphasis on education, healthcare, unemployment, and increasing homeownership levels.

“We have an astronomical truancy rate in Oakland, he said. Also he cited the threatened closure of the county’s hospital and trauma center as issues he would fight for in Sacramento.

“I’ve always supported jobs, good paying union jobs,” he said, noting that his grandfather was a 1ongshoreman.

Swanson added that with term limits in the Assembly it’s important for the district to be represented by someone with experience, who has written legislation and can hit the ground running.

Swanson said he will run an “old style grass roots campaign” going door to door the way he learned to do when he worked as a Northern California advance man for Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign in 1972. He said he learned a Lot about politics, integrity and principle from Chisholm, who died Saturday and that’s also when he me’ Lee who was also working or the campaign.

While working for Del turns. Swanson said he was released to run Lionel Wilson’s successful campaign for Mayor of Oakland.

As Dellums and Wilson mentored him, Swanson said it’s important for members of his generation to mentor young people, so they can take over the leadership when the time comes.

The 16th AD includes Alameda, 85 percent of Oakland and Piedmont and is 70 percent minority.

In addition to Lee and Dellums, Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson, who attended his December fundraiser, as did Lee, supports Swanson. He said he is also supported by religious leaders, and small business leaders.

The campaign chairman is Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson, who has worked with Swanson "all his political life.”