|
|
|
|
HR1303 |
|
LRB093 24243 CSA 54455 r |
|
|
| 1 |
| HOUSE RESOLUTION
|
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, Shirley Chisholm, the first African American |
| 3 |
| woman elected to the United States Congress and an |
| 4 |
| inspirational advocate for women and minorities, passed away on |
| 5 |
| January 1, 2005; and
|
| 6 |
| WHEREAS, She was born Shirley St. Hill on November 30, 1924 |
| 7 |
| in New York, and was the eldest of four daughters of a Guyanese |
| 8 |
| father and a Barbadian mother; she grew up in Barbados, then |
| 9 |
| returned to her native Brooklyn, New York, graduating from |
| 10 |
| Brooklyn College in 1946; and
|
| 11 |
| WHEREAS, While teaching nursery school and serving as |
| 12 |
| director of the Friends Day Nursery in Brooklyn, she studied |
| 13 |
| elementary education at Columbia University, where she |
| 14 |
| received her master's degree in 1952; an education consultant |
| 15 |
| for New York City's day-care division, she was also active with |
| 16 |
| community and political groups, including the National |
| 17 |
| Association for the Advancement of Colored People and her |
| 18 |
| district's Unity Democratic Club; and
|
| 19 |
| WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, she represented her Brooklyn |
| 20 |
| district in the New York state legislature;
in 1968, she was |
| 21 |
| elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; as a candidate |
| 22 |
| for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1972, she |
| 23 |
| won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race; and
|
| 24 |
| WHEREAS, She was a founder of the National Women's |
| 25 |
| Political Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus; |
| 26 |
| throughout her congressional career, which lasted from 1969 to |
| 27 |
| 1983, she supported the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion |
| 28 |
| rights; she wrote the autobiographical works "Unbought and |
| 29 |
| Unbossed" and "The Good Fight"; after her retirement from |
| 30 |
| Congress, she was a sought-after lecturer; she also held the |
| 31 |
| position of Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College from |