Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 January 2005 — Page 3

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2005

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

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Shirley Chisholm remembered as Irailblazer

By HAZEL TRICE EDNEY NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Retired Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., the first Black woman elected to Congress and a 1972 presidential candidate, is being hailed in death as a diehard heroine for justice and equality. Chisholm, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., died at her home in Palm Coast, Fla., near Daytona Beach, on Saturday at the age of 80. She had suffered several strokes and was reported in deteriorating health, according to relatives. But those who worked closely with one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus remember her as healthy, feisty outspoken advocate for the voiceless in society. “When you see somebody as feisty and as gutsy as Shirley, breaking a barrier, running for Congress and then having the guts to go for broke and run for president, the effect she had was to encourage struggle, encourage people who were down and out to understand that without struggle, you could break barriers,” says D. C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, who was Commissioner of Human Rights in New York when Chisholm first ran for Congress in 1972 against James Farmer, former chair of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), recalls how Chisholm was ridiculed simply for running. “The contribution that Shirley Chisholm made to America really was her feminism,” Norton says. “She had guts to spare and appealed directly to the people. She was an expert politician who kept her seat without any difficulty.” Chisholm spent 25 years in politics, including four years as a state assemblywoman in New

Shirley Chisholm York from in the mid-1960s and in 1969beginning the first of seven terms in Congress. The title of her autobiography - Unbought and Unbossed - was perhaps the best description of her. “Those of us who served with her in the New York State Assembly and watched her career in the House, to which she was elected in 1968, knew of her boldness and passionate commitment,” recalls U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, who served with Chisholm for 13 years. But Rangel says even New Yorkers were awed when she refused her first Congressional assignment to the Agriculture Committee. As a newly-elected representative from an urban area, Chisholm saw no advantage in serving on a committee that focused on rural America. She ultimately won a seat on the Veteran Affairs Committee, a position that grew in prominence with the escalation of the Vietnam War. It was not the first or last time she would buck the system. The political maverick from BedfordStuyvesant supported Hale Boggs, a white congressman from Loui-

siana for House majority leader over John Conyers, an African American from Detroit. When Boggs won, she was rewarded with a seat on the powerful Education and Labor Committee. She would later set her sight on the White House. She lost the 1972 Democratic nomination to George McGovern, who was badly beaten in the general election by Richard Nixon. “Challenging all accepted practices of politics, this very junior member of the House, an African-American woman at that, by declaring for the presidency, single-handedly raised the profile and aspirations of all those newly empowered Blacks and women of that era,” Rangel stated. “Today, her visionaiy leadership in Congress and her quest for the presidency continue to inspire new generations of young minori-

ties and women to higher aspirations in public service.” A strong supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Chisholm was an outspoken critic of gender bias. “I’ve always met more discrimination being a woman than being Black,” she told the Associated Press shortly before retiring from Congress. Chisholm is being lavishly praised this week by men and women. In her life after politics, Chisholm was given an endowed teaching chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She taught there for four years before traveling extensively on speaking engagements. In 1993, President Clinton nominated her to become U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, but she declined because of health problems. Outgoing Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Elijah Cummings also reflected on Chisholm’s impact on the future. “We must remain vigilant in our efforts to remain true to her vision of creating an America that affords equality and just to all of its citizens.”

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2nd Annual Scholarship Lavenia, Smith & Summers Home for Funerals Celebrating over 71 years of family tradition

Lavenia, Smith & Summers Home for Funerals is pleased to announce its second annual Scholarship awards presentation. Up to ten scholarships in the amount of $500.00 each will be awarded to graduating high school seniors from the Indianapolis area. The applications may be obtained from Lavenia, Smith & Summers Home for Funerals and must be completed and returned to the funeral home by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, 2005. The applicants will be judged on academic records, test scores, church and community. involvement, a brief essay and letters of recommendation. The staff of Lavenia, Smith & Summers Home for Funerals pray that these awards will be an investment in our youth who will mold our community tomorrow.

Sincerely, Emanuel C. Smith Jr. Scholarship Coordinator

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