On June 22, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 571) honoring former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm who passed away on January 1, 2005. Sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the measure would designate a U.S. Postal Service facility in Brooklyn, New York, as the “Congresswoman Shirley A. Chisholm Post Office Building.”
The first African American woman elected to Congress, Ms. Chisholm served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1968 until 1982. During her congressional career, she served on the House Education and Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Rules Committees, and helped found the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues and the Congressional Black Caucus. In 1972, Ms. Chisholm became the first African American to seek a major party’s nomination for President. After retiring from Congress in 1982, she established the National Political Congress of Black Women and served on the Advisory Council of the National Organization for Women.
In a press release announcing his sponsorship of the bill, Sen. Schumer stated, “Shirley Chisholm broke more glass ceilings than just about anyone else from Brooklyn. She had a fierce determination to work for racial equality and had an unwavering commitment to justice. I was privileged to know and serve with her and it is fitting and appropriate to re-name the Stuyvesant post office in her honor.”
