Unbought and Unbossed

"Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt." - Shirley Chisholm

When Carol Moseley Braun ran for president in 2004 few in the media or in the U.S. electorate took her candidacy seriously. The dignified Braun did not articulate either the bold policy positions or the fiery rhetoric that garner headlines or followers. In comparison Sen. Joe Lieberman and Rep. Dick Gephardt were equally bland but they were nonetheless considered viable candidates. The former U.S. senator from Illinois and former ambassador to New Zealand possessed a paltry war chest and a ragtag campaign operation, but so did fellow candidates, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Unlike Braun, who was quietly dismissed, these two contenders were labeled as grassroots candidates who spoke for millions of marginalized citizens. What made Braun’s run implausible to millions of voters and to the pundits seems to have had more to do with her gender than with her politics or her finances.

Anyone who has spent any length of time in black communities knows that despite highly visible male leaders, it is the women who are chiefly responsible for organizing and maintaining the numerous ad hoc programs and committees that benefit, children, women and the disadvantaged. Particularly in churches, which remain important social centers for millions of black Americans, it is the women who regularly cook sumptuous meals that are distributed to the needy in their neighborhoods. Black women around the country can still be found teaching the next generation in Sunday schools and arranging for their churches to participate in free lunch programs for children during the summer. In an earlier time when black churches were local command posts for the civil rights movement, thousands of unsung black women performed the unglamorous work of canvassing neighborhoods, making photocopies, passing out flyers and proofreading speeches. By playing supporting roles to male leaders, women helped organizations such as the Montgomery Improvement Association, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) to have the capacity to be strong advocates for political and social change. Later when many black Nationalist organizations, on ideological grounds, discouraged black women from assuming leadership roles, they still undertook the administrative tasks and field duties that were crucial to the development of the Black Power movement.

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm officially stomped on the idea that leadership was the sole prerogative of black men by becoming the first black women elected to the U.S. Congress. Three years later, by announcing her intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president, Chisholm publicly defied conventional notions about race, gender and class in asserting her right to run for the nation’s highest office. In her 1972 presidential bid Chisholm failed to win one primary and the Democratic nomination subsequently went to George McGovern. However, Chisholm’s then quixotic candidacy opened the door for future presidential aspirants: the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, former Ambassador Alan Keyes and Carol Moseley Braun.

Not surprisingly, in 1968 many black nationalists opposed her candidacy stating that the first black president should be a man. In a December, 1981 interview with the Associated Press, Chisholm reflected on the impact of race and gender on her political career sayings, "When I ran for the Congress, when I ran for president, I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black. Men are men."

Chisholm, who served seven terms in Congress, died this week in Florida at the age of 80. In 1982 she decided not to seek re-election in a political environment that was becoming increasingly conservative. In a scene that could have played out in the 2004 election cycle, Chisholm left Washington after saying that moderate and liberal legislators were "running for cover from the new right." Chisholm retired to Williamsville, N.Y. and in 1984 she was elected the first chairperson of the National Political Congress of Black Women.