# 4856 - 2014 First-Class Forever Stamp - Black Heritage: Shirley Chisholm

Birth Of Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born November 30, 1924, in New York City, New York.

Born in Brooklyn, Chisholm was the daughter of Caribbean immigrants.  Her mother struggled to raise her four children and work, so she sent them to live with her mother in Barbados.  Chisholm spent five years there and attended a one-room schoolhouse that provided her with a good, serious education. 

Chisholm returned to the US in 1934 and attended an all-girls’ high school.  She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College where she won several awards for her debating skills.  Three years later she married Conrad O. Chisholm.

Chisholm earned an MA from Columbia University in 1952 and served as director of the Friends Day Nursery from 1953 to 1959.  She then served as an educational consultant for the Division of Day Care, establishing herself as an authority on childhood education and welfare.  Soon she grew interested in politics and volunteered with the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League and the League of Women Voters. 

Chisholm’s first political post was as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1965 to 1968.  In that role, she opposed literacy tests that required English (arguing that a person that understands something in their native language isn’t illiterate), won unemployment benefits for domestic workers, and helped establish a SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge) program. 

In 1968, Chisholm ran for the US House of Representatives with the campaign slogan, “Unbought and Unbossed.”  She won that election, becoming the first black woman elected to Congress.  The steely grit that would define Chisholm quickly became apparent.  When she was assigned to an agricultural committee, the new congresswoman insisted on being reassigned to a position relevant to her urban constituents.