On July 25, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 571) designating a U.S. Postal Service facility in Brooklyn, New York, as the “Congresswoman Shirley A. Chisholm Post Office Building.” The Senate approved the measure on June 29 (see The Source, 7/1/05). It will now go to the White House for President Bush’s signature.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said that Shirley Chisholm “spent a lifetime advocating civil rights for all Americans. After graduating from Brooklyn College, Shirley Chisholm worked at the Mount Cavalry Child Care Center in Harlem for several years. Later, she founded the Unity Democrat Club, which mobilized black and Hispanic voters. In 1964, Shirley Chisholm ran for and won a State assembly seat in the New York General Assembly. During her term, Ms. Chisholm most notably championed bills to aid day care centers and schools. In 1968, she campaigned and was elected as the Representative from New York’s Twelfth District to the United States Congress, where she served until 1982. Throughout her tenure, Congresswoman Chisholm boldly spoke out on civil rights, women’s liberties, and issues specifically affecting those in need.”
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) pointed out that Shirley Chisholm “will be remembered for always fighting the good fight and for being the first black woman to announce her candidacy for President of the United States in 1972. In her speech before the Democratic National Convention in Miami, she declared, ‘Although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that, I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am a candidate of the people.’ Shirley Chisholm was fond of saying that she was unbought and unbossed, simply meaning that she did not represent any particular special interest, but she represented the will of the people.”
