for things, and sometimes they find something, and i always said, if it was a beauty shop, it would be a much bigger report to write, but thinking of the gender come potential of difference, you have to assume something is happening there. and my hope when we talk about this today and thinking about the civil rights movement, that looking at the real example of black beauticians, helps us to unravel this master narrative, and as we continue for the rest of the semester, going forward, to the contemporary period, we can think about how some of what was started in this period, is unfinished, and that people continue to take up this battle. but also, gets us to think about when we encounter nation tives about the civil rights movement, in our responsible space, in our discourse, in our public policy, in our monument, in our conversations, that this has equipped us with more tools to be able to try to dismantle and pick away at it. all right? thank you all for the class. thanks. you're watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on

american history. every weekend. on c-span 3. follow us on twitter. at c-span history, for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. in 1968, shirley chisholm was the first african-american woman elected to the u.s. congress. and she ran for president in 1972. barbara winslow, founder of the shirley chisholm project talks about her early life, political career and legacy in this 15-minute interview recorded at the american historical association's annual meeting. >> professor barbara winslow, author of this book on shirley chisholm, who was she? >> she was, among many things, the first african-american woman elected to congress, from brooklyn, in 1968. and after the inauguration of the 116th congress, many of the

women who had just been elected were photographed under her portrait which hangs in the capitol. >> what motivated her? why was she interested in politics? and why was she elect requested am. >> she was interested in politics beginning at college in brooklyn college, she was active in the naacp, she founded a black woman's so record, she supported a woman who was running for president at brooklyn college and she was active in the harriet tubman society. so she began her political activism as a college student. she got a job working in a day care center. but politics was her passion. and she got involved in brooklyn politics. which at that time was all white, and all male. and she worked with a number of local officials, local african-american local officials, to transform the local democratic party. so that it was led by african-americans.

but it was all male. and she worked very closely with women, not only in the local democratic party clubs, but in the social club, in the immigrant organization, in the church organizations, she knew central brooklyn like the back of of her hand, and had the support of the women. so in 1960, she gets elected, and goes to albany, and she is a very effective legislator. the legislation she is most proud of is called the seek program, seek education, empowerment and knowledge and this provided resources for high school students going to the city university of new york so they could attend college and get the resources needed to stay in college and to graduate. and that transformed the city university of new york, the various colleges, including her alma mater brooklyn college, from basically being all white, to resembling more of the

diversity of new york city. a fantastic accomplishment. >> did she grow up in brooklyn? >> she spent p seven formative years on the island of barbados. and barbados, i think really was transformative for her in many ways even though she was a young girl. she was raised main bebe her aunt and, mainly by her aunt and grandmother, and two stern but very loving capable women. she was in barbados, at the moment where the struggle for barbados independence begins and labor rights begins and one of her uncles wrote for the black barbados newspaper and i am absolutely convinced that she had her racial and gender consciousness raised by those seven years in barbados. >> i wonder if you can put in perspective though, the significance of her election, she took office 50 years ago, in 1969, elected in 1968, the civil rights movement was at its peak, the voting rights act passed by

president johnson signed into law. so what did it mean for her to be elected. >> well, it was the front page of "the new york times." prior to that, they never mentioned her by name. and it was as much of an earthquake as, the only thing that almost comes, that comes close to was the election of alexander ocasio-cortez. that is wow, how did this happen? and nobody thought it was going to happen except people in the burough of brooklyn. and she became a superstar. almost immediately. rushed into the national spotlight. there are so many parallels to what has just happened recently. she challenged the white and male authority, democratic leadership. she reversed to sit on the agricultural community, because she says there is no agriculture in brooklyn. and when they said there is a food stamp committee, they wouldn't put her on that so she said i won't serve on those committees and ended up serving

on the veterans committee. they had to change the rules legislation because you weren't allowed to wear hats in congress, and she wore a hat when she was going to be sworn in, so they had to change the rules. and she was not going to take any guff from these older white leaders. >> and they just changed the rules for this congress, you can wear religious garb on the floor of the house. >> yes. >> what was she like as a person? >> everybody i have interviewed said she was very funny, she loved to dance, and when she wasn't on the floor of the house, she was a real cut-up, she was very generous, and she also was a shopaholic. if there had been computers, she would have been online shopping 23 hours a day. but everybody cited her whit, her intelligence, her debating skill, and her incredible kindness and generosity.

>> what about her personal life? >> she was married to a man by the name of conrad chisholm at this particular point in time, he was a jamaicaen immigrant and he was very, very protective of her, and he did not mind being mr. shirley chisholm. they do divorce in the '80s and she remarries and her second husband, who she does say was the love of her life, was in a horrific car accident and died very young and she was totally broken-hearted after that. >> her legacy in congress, what was it? >> i think her legacy in congress was that she was outspoken against the war in vietnam, and she refused to support any legislation for the military, because she said war legislation should go to ending poverty, she was an outspoken person for women's rights. but because of her notoriety,

she was not as effective of a legislator as she had been in albany but she and bella abzoo worked on a comprehensive piece of child care legislation and were able to win over the majority in the senate and the house for this legislation, only to have richard nixon, then the president, veto, it and he did because it would quote, soviet-ize american's children end quote. the. >> democrats in control of the house chievement was a democrat. karl alberts speaker of the house at the time. how did he view her? >> i think he viewed her as the biggest pain of the neck. because she was always challenging them. always saying i'm not going to do this. i'm not going to do that. i'm not sitting on that committee. but after 1970, i think she decides, i want to be a more effective legislator. and she learns to be very, very strategic and learned the skills of who you support, who you don't support, and she actually made alliances with white southern legislators, in order

for them to appropriate money for her district. >> why did she run for president? >> i think she ran, well, i know she says she ran for president because she felt there was an opening, there was a tremendous there was opposition to the war in vietnam. there was the women's movement. there were veterans who were active and there was nobody speaking for them. do i think she really had a realistic sense that she would win? no. and she said what she wanted to do was get delegate votes so she could go to the convention and make an impact. and she actually did. the only time the democratic party came out against capital punishment was in 1972 because the shirley chisholm delegation on the rules committee -- the platform committee, excuse me, changed the rules. i think the most effective legacy she had were the young people she inspired including

barbara lee now who's been in congress who started working for shirley chisholm when she was both a member of the black panther party and the president of the student government at mills college and a single mother. she inspired a whole generation of women, including me. i was in a women's group in seattle, and we sent her campaign $15. and let me tell you, in 1972, $15 was a lot of money for us. >> if you could ask her a question today, what would it be? >> i think it would be the question that everybody would ask her, how do you see your legacy? you know, you're now getting the fame and the acclaim and the acknowledgement that for a long time people didn't know who she was. my guess is she would also answer as she did in the wonderful shola lynch interview, i want to be seen as a catalyst for change, and she was. >> her portrait is in the u.s. capitol. >> yes, it is. >> statue also in the capitol. what does that represent?

>> well, nancy pelosi made sure that this wonderful portrait of shirley chisholm is in the capitol building and it is situated in a place that for every inauguration, the entire inauguration parade including the president-elect, the congress, the joint chiefs of staff, the supreme court, all have to walk past her portrait. there's always a portrait of her in the brooklyn borough president's office. and the mayor of new york city has just announced that the first statue to a woman is going to be of shirley chisholm in prospect park in brooklyn. >> and of course -- >> and there's a stamp. there's an official stamp that was inaugurated two years ago at the post office. >> how did she pass away? >> she died of old age outside of orlando. she spent the rest of her -- i think the last five years of her life in orlando. after she left congress, she taught at mt. holyoke and a number of places. she was going to be nominated the ambassador to jamaica by

bill clinton, but she was frail then and so by the '90s, i think it was, she moved to florida. >> you talked about the obstacles, the old-boy network that she faced. what other obstacles did she have to overcome, though? >> she always said that the biggest obstacle she faced was gender. of race and gender, it was gender the most. and it was not just white men. i mean, there were men in congress who would sneer at her. i think at that point she made $59,000 as a member of the house of representatives, and these white men would go "59 thou" to her in the elevator. one legislator every time she would leave a committee seat and stand up and go out, he would have the seat washed. i mean, talk about racist humiliation. but she also did not get the support from african-american men, and when she ran for president whether -- most of the men in the black caucus did not support her. and there's a phrase that is

said about hillary clinton, it's soon going to be said about elizabeth warren, i want a woman for president, just not this one, and that's what they said when shirley chisholm was running. we want a woman for president, just not this one. so she faced opposition from many men. not from all. she had the support of the black panther party and a young al sharpton, when he was a teenager, was her youth organizer in brooklyn and who, if you ever hear him speak about shirley chisholm, it brings tears to your eyes. she really was a mentor for him. >> well, it's apparent you are passionate about her. why? >> i think she's such an extraordinary woman. i also think that my passion for her has to do with the fact that she is an alum of brooklyn college where i teach. and when i talk about shirley chisholm whether it's in brooklyn college or whether it's in the brooklyn public schools, young people are furious that they never knew anything about her. and the fact that they now know about this woman who looks like

their grandmothers, you know, ran for president. it's an extraordinary -- it's an extraordinary experience. and the shirley chisholm project of brooklyn women's activism is now run by this woman equally passionate about shirley chisholm named zinga fraser and we're bringing her story alive, especially to young people so that they can realize that you may be a working-class daughter of immigrants, woman of color, but look what you can do. >> when you put this book together, what surprised you the most? >> the story of barbados, to me, was the most interesting. i didn't know about the extraordinary connections between barbados and the united states. george washington, the only other country he ever visited was barbados. they believe crispus attucks, the first martyr of the american revelation, was from barbados. and barbados -- the sugar from

barbados produced by barbadian slaves produced the wealth of new york city. so the barbados/u.s. history connection i knew nothing about. so that was really exciting to learn. >> and finally, i admit this is a speculative question, but if she were in the house of representatives with this new congress being sworn in, what do you think she would be thinking about? >> i think she would be so thrilled at this generation especially of young women who are in. she would just be thrilled. and she'd also be very happy i think that donna shalala at 77, i believe, also got elected. and given how repulsed she was at richard nixon, i can only imagine how fraught she would be about the current president of the united states. >> how so? >> i think he represents everything she opposes. i think she would see him as, you know, an absolute white supremacist, the worst kind of

misogynist, anti-immigrant and warmonger even though he pretends he's not. >> what about leader pelosi who is now speaker pelosi once again? >> i think she would be very proud of speaker pelosi and they would work together. they're -- they have very similar political aims. chisholm was in the left of the progressive wing of the democratic party as is speaker pelosi. >> barbara winslow, thank you for your time. >> thank you. this was great. >> you're watching american history tv only on c-span 3. c-span was in memphis, tennessee, last april for coverage of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of dr. martin luther king jr.'s assassination in 1968. up next, a ceremony remembering what's known as reverend king's "mountaintop" speech given