Q: Who was the first black woman elected to Congress?
A: Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969-1982. In 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
A native New Yorker, Chisholm began a career in elementary education before being elected to the New York State Legislature in 1964. In 1968 she was elected to the U.S. House, representing New York’s 12th District congressional seat. All of the staffers she hired for her officer were women and half of them were black.
During her presidential campaign, she survived three assassination attempts. During the Democratic National Convention, she received 152 first-ballot votes for the nomination.
During her tenure in the U.S. House, Chisholm championed several issues including education, civil rights, aid for the poor and women’s rights. She retired from Congress in 1982 and went back into education, teaching politics and women’s studies.
