In 1984 she co-founded the National Congress of Black Women, and in 1990, she co-founded African American Women for Reproductive Freedom. One of her most significant contributions was the 1974 minimum wage legislation that expanded minimum wage standards to apply to domestic workers, as well as to additional state and local government employees.Īfter she retired from Congress, she was appointed Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. In 1970, she became co-founder of the National Organization of Women’s Rights, a nonprofit taking action to lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life. She frequently fought for reproductive rights for her community and understood that economically thriving and safe communities were tied to education and health care. Her platform focused on racial and gender equity, elevating those issues to the national stage. Shirley Chisholm became a household name when she became the first Black woman to make a bid for President of the United States when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972. Throughout her time in Congress, she supported and improved employment and education programs, the expansion of day care, income support, and other programs designed to improve inner city life and opportunities for those communities. From there, she ran for Congress using the motto “Unbought and Unbossed,” and won herself a seat on behalf of New York’s 12 th Congressional District. This led her to run for, and win, a seat in the New York State Legislature in 1950. She began her career as a New York City educator, where she saw the problems of the poor every single day. During her time, she changed the nation’s perspective about what women and Black Americans were capable of. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, was a passionate advocate for the needs of minorities, women and children.

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Chisholm unbought and unbossed