Page 33 - CALIFORNIA WOMAN - SPRING EDITION 2024 - PDF Format

“Shirley” stars Regina King as Shirley Chisholm.

Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress. She was elected in 1968
representing New York’s 12th Congressional District. She gave talks to many student groups.
They urged her to run for President. In 1972 she did just that. The movie essentially covers
that run for President. She and her husband put in $20,000 of their own funds to help with the
campaign. She had very little money besides this for her campaign. Her husband supported
her run, but toward the end when she wanted to put in more of their money with essentially
no hope of winning, he starts pulling back. She was at first not allowed to participate in the
debates so she had to take legal action. The person who she designated as her attorney was
an intern volunteering in the campaign and working on his legal degree. He did succeed in
getting her into the debates. During this campaign George Wallace, who was also running for
President, was shot five times and did survive. The other Democratic candidates visited him in
the hospital. Chisholm’s team tried to convince her not to visit him, but she thought as a
Christian she should and did. The film doesn’t say this, but it gets the audience to think that
maybe her visit and the shooting contributed to Wallace later changing his views. From this
visit she had some problems with her Black supporters. The “Favorite Son” from Washington,
D.C. promised her if she did not enter the primary there to give his delegates to her. He dou-
ble-crossed her and gave his delegates to George McGovern as he was promised a position in
the McGovern administration. Of course, McGovern did not win. The movie at the end tells
what happened to the main characters in the movie. Chisholm and her husband divorce in
1977. She goes on to marry Arthur Hardwick Jr., who was part of her campaign team. She
continues to serve in Congress until 1983. She passed away in 2005. The movie is an interest-
ing look at the Chisholm’s 1972 campaign for those interested in history.