Shirley Chisholm Gets Stamp of Approval
A stamp honoring Shirley A. Chisholm, the former congresswoman from New York, may soon grace your mail.
The United States Postal Service announced Thursday that it would print a stamp recognizing Ms. Chisholm, the first black woman to serve in Congress and the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, in its Black Heritage stamp series next year.
Ms. Chisholm, who was elected to Congress from New York in 1968, earned a reputation as an outspoken liberal and an advocate for women, minorities and the poor. She successfully pushed to expand the nation’s food stamp program and to create the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — known as W.I.C. — for low-income families.
She ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1972. Her campaign slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed,” which she also used in her first Congressional campaign and which later became the title of her memoir.
Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, had lobbied for the stamp since 2005, the year Ms. Chisholm died at age 80.
“Shirley Chisholm was a trailblazer, a beacon and a champion, and I would not be here today as a member of Congress if it were not for her guidance, inspiration and example,” said Ms. Lee, who was a volunteer on Ms. Chisholm’s presidential campaign.
Ms. Chisholm served seven terms representing the Brooklyn-based 12th Congressional District and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. She also spent four years in the New York State Legislature and worked as an educator. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education at Columbia and was authority on early education and child welfare.
After leaving Washington, she taught politics and women’s studies at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and Spelman College in Atlanta, before moving to Florida in 1991.
Representative Marcia L. Fudge, Democrat of Ohio, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Ms. Chisholm “shattered glass ceilings and broke racial barriers in America, paving the way for African-Americans and women to serve as leaders in their communities and in the United States Congress.”
Previous stamps in the Black Heritage series have honored the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the civil rights leader Rosa Parks, among others.
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