Shirley Chisholm laid the groundwork for many who would follow her footsteps into national politics. As an activist who was often in the public eye, she is well represented in Prints & Photographs Division collections.
Elected as a Representative for New York’s 12th congressional district in 1968, Chisholm was the first Black woman to serve in the United States Congress. Just a few years later, she began a campaign for the U.S. presidency, becoming the first African American candidate from a major party and the first woman from the Democratic party to do so.
The U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection includes a number of images of Chisholm during these groundbreaking years. A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chisholm can be seen in the images below with fellow members and at events from 1971, the year the group was officially established, through 1975.
Despite resistance from many Congressional Black Caucus members — some of whom objected to her candidacy because she was a woman, and some because she was willing to collaborate extensively with colleagues outside the CBC — Chisholm pursued the U.S. presidency in 1972, adopting the motto “Unbought and Unbossed” for her campaign.
Chisholm seemed at ease speaking to the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in this image taken by a U.S. News and World Report photographer .
A supporter at the convention holds a sign in support of Chisholm in the U.S. News and World Report photograph below.
Although she did not win the Democratic party’s nomination, Chisholm knew that her efforts would have a lasting impact. In 1973, she remarked: “The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little smoother because I helped pave it.”
Learn More:
- See more digitized photos of Shirley Chisholm from the U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.
- Try browsing all digitized U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection images using the code “usn&wr.” You can narrow your search by adding more keyword terms. Read up on the collection and its strengths in this collection guide.
- Explore this guide to resources about Shirley Chisholm across the Library of Congress.
- Browse Women’s History Month resources from the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Smithsonian Institution and more.