Congresswoman Barbara Lee Hails Announcement of Shirley Chisholm Stamp
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
Washington, D.C.— Today, the United States Postal Service announced that former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm will be the 2014 inductee to the Black Heritage stamp series.
“I am thrilled by the announcement that my dear friend, mentor, and hero, the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, will be the 2014 inductee to the United States Postal Service Black Heritage stamp series,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. “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. She was a fierce advocate for women's rights and democracy, and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War.”
Shirley Chisholm won a seat in the New York State General Assembly in 1964, was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968, and in 1969 was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. In 1972, she was the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination, which also cemented her as the first African American to be considered for the presidential nomination by a major national political party. Ms. Chisholm’s legislative work centered around her advocacy for civil rights, women’s rights, and the poor.
Congresswoman Chisholm joins a number of pivotal historical figures for the Black Heritage stamp series, including the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald, Sojourner Truth, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, and W. E. B. Du Bois.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee first introduced legislation in 2005 expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative stamp should be issued in Congresswoman Chisholm’s honor.
###
Follow Barbara Lee on Facebook and Twitter at @RepBarbaraLee. To learn more, visit lee.house.gov.
Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip, and former chair of both the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus. She serves as chair of the Whip’s Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. In September of 2013, President Obama nominated Congresswoman Lee to serve as a Representative of the United States to the Sixty-eighth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, making her the first African American woman to hold this position.