Shirley Anita (St. Hill) Chisholm (1924 - 2005)

Ancestors

Biography

Shirley Chisholm, as she was known, was an American politician, educator, and author. Shirley was the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th Congressional District. She served seven terms. In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States of America. She was also the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Shirley Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Shirley's parents Charles Cristopher St. Hill and Ruby Leona (Seale) St. Hill, were both from Barbados, British West Indies and they married in Brooklyn, New York. On November 30th, 1924 Shirley St. Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, the oldest of their four daughters.^[1]

When Miss St. Hill turned five she and her sisters were sent to live with her grandmother and she attended a strict British school that was typical of the West Indies.

Return Voyage From Grandmother's

She spoke fondly of her grandmother and credited her with giving her strength, dignity and love. Rep Shirley (St Hill) said , "her grandmother gave her a strong sense of self and of being somebody."^[1] The children returned to New York on the SS Nerissa when Shirley was nine. ^[2]

Miss St. Hill attended Girls' High School in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and then obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College in 1946, graduating cum laude. Shirley participated in the debate club and was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

She became the director of Friends Day Nursery in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.

Conrad Q. Chisholm and Miss St Hill met in the latter part of the 1940s. Conrad had immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1946 and became a private investigator whose focus was in negligence-based lawsuits.^[1] They married in 1949.^[3]

Chisholm taught in a nursery school while furthering her education, earning her Master of Arts degree in elementary education from the Teachers College at Columbia University in 1952.

Running a day care center got her interested in politics, and during this time she formed the basis of her political career, working as a volunteer for white-dominated political clubs in Brooklyn, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League and the League of Women Voters. With the Political League she was part of a committee that chose the recipient of its annual Brotherhood Award.^[4] She also was a representative of the Brooklyn branch of the National Association of College Women.^[5]

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and became the second African American in the New York State Legislature.^[6]

In 1968, Chisholm ran for and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th congressional district.^[1] She served seven terms from 1969–1983. While in Congress Representative Chisolm, worked to provide equal rights for all American, with a focus on low-income families, children, and women.^[7]

Concerned about the underrepresentation of minorities in the census, Chisholm enumerated portions of Brooklyn in 1970.^[8]

In 1972, Rep Chisholm was the first African American woman to run for President of the United States.^[9]

She and Conrad Quintin Chisholm were granted a divorce on 4 Feb 1977 in the Dominican Republic.^[1] She married Arthur Hardwick Jr. on 26 Nov 1977 in Buffalo, New York.^[10] She indicated that while her legal name was now Hardwick, she would continue to use Chisholm in politics.^[10]

She died in 2005, and is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, Erie County, New York.^[11]

A statue of Rep. Chisholm was erected in her district. ^{[12] [13]}

Representative Chisolm's Honors, Degrees, & Memberships:

• Recognized for her debating skills in College
• 1946 Earned Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College.
• 1952 Earned Master of Arts in Elementary Education from Teachers College at Columbia University.
• Brooklyn branch of the National Association of College Women.
• 1968 Elected to House of Representatives from New York's 12th Congressional District, making her the first African American Woman elected to Congress
• 1971 Founding member of the Black Congressional Caucus
• 1971 Founding member National Women's Political Caucus
• 1974 Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Aquinas College and was their commencement speaker.^[14]
• 1975 Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Smith College.
• 1993 Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.^{[15] [16]}
• 1996 Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Stetson University, in Deland, Florida.
• 2014 the Shirley Chisholm Forever Stamp was issued by the USPS.^[17]
• 2015 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously) by President Barack Obama.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Wikipedia:Shirley_Chisholm
2. ↑ Image of Manifest for S.S. Nerissa, 7 May 1934, Return from Grandmother
3. ↑ Conrad Chisholm Content to be Candidate's Husband; Sarasota Journal, 29 Feb 1972
4. ↑ Paragon 'Brotherhood' Meet: 'Protest' Group to Albany; The New York Age Defender, New York, New York, Saturday, 23 Feb 1957, page 4, found on Newspapers.com
5. ↑ Tops in Teens The New York Age Defender, New York, New York, Saturday, 16 May 1959, page 10, found on Newspapers.com
6. ↑ Michals, Debra. "Shirley Chisholm." National Women's History Museum. 2015.
7. ↑ The Equality Archive: The First Black Woman Presidential Candidate
8. ↑ "Shirley Anita Chisholm," United States Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/06/who-knew-famous-census-workers.html : accessed 18 February 2023).
9. ↑ Wikipedia: 1972 United States presidential election
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Who's in the News: The Newlywed Hardwicks, the Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, Kentucky, Monday, 28 Nov 1977, page 2, found on Newspapers.com
11. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #10211114 page for Shirley Chisholm (30 Nov 1924–1 Jan 2005), citing Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, USA; accessed 26 January 2022; Maintained by Find a Grave.
12. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/05/its-about-time-shirley-chisholm-first-black-congresswoman-will-get-a-statue
13. ↑ Annoucement of Statute honoring US Rep. Shirley Chisholm in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City
14. ↑ Aquinas College, Past Commencement Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients
15. ↑ National Women's Hall of Fame - Shirley Chisholm Inductee
16. ↑ National Women's Hall of Fame
17. ↑ Image of the 2014 Shirley Chisholm Forever Stamp
18. ↑ Phil Helsel – "Obama honoring Spielberg, Streisand and more with medal of freedom," Archived November 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine NBC News, November 24, 2015. Retrieved 26 Jan 2022.

• FamilySearch profile for Shirley Anita St. Hill (1924–2005)
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4KS-BMZ : accessed 26 February 2018), Shirley St Hill in household of Charles St Hill, Brooklyn (Districts 0501-0750), Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 566, sheet 2B, line 77, family 44, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1543; FHL microfilm 2,341,278.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ9Y-HBT : accessed 26 February 2018), Shirley St Hill in household of Charles St Hill, Assembly District 17, Brooklyn, New York City, Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 24-2020, sheet 61A, line 3, family 21, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2599.
• U.S.Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 Shirley Anita St Hill * Shirley Chisholm Shirley's immigrant * Gender: Female * Race :Black Birth Date: 30 *Nov 1924 * Birth Place: Kings, New York [Brooklyn Kings, *New York Death Date: 1 Jan *2005 * Father: Charles C St Hill * Mother: Ruby L Seale
• Wikidata: Item Q239657

See also:

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, CHISHOLM, Shirley Anita, 1924 – 2005
• ‘Unbought And Unbossed’: The Trailblazing Presidential Campaign Of Shirley Chisholm; Website: All That's Interesting, Natasha Ishak, Checked By Jaclyn Anglis, Published 26 Apr 2020, Updated 24 Aug 2020.
• Shirley Chisholm broke ground before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, by Cary Clack, San Antonio Express-News, 27 Feb 2008. Reprinted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• History Stories: 'Unbought and Unbossed': Why Shirley Chisholm Ran for President, on History.com
• Barbara Winslow: Shirley Chisholm, CUNY and U.S. History; June 2012

Her autobiographies:

• Chisholm, Shirley (1970). Unbought and Unbossed. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-10932-8
  • Chisholm, Shirley (2010). Scott Simpson (ed.). Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition. Take Root Media. ISBN 978-0-9800590-2-1
• Chisholm, Shirley (1973). The Good Fight. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-010764-2