05 LC 98
0136
House
Resolution 187
By:
Representatives Thomas of the
55th,
Morgan of the
39th,
Abdul-Salaam of the
74th,
Sinkfield of the
60th,
Buckner of the
76th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Recognizing
and honoring the life of Shirley St. Hill Chisholm; and for other
purposes.
WHEREAS,
Shirley St. Hill Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York,
to West Indian immigrants Charles and Ruby St. Hill; and
WHEREAS,
graduating from Girls High School in Brooklyn in 1942, she attended Brooklyn
College, where she first earned a reputation as an outspoken and intelligent
debater and an advocate for minority rights; and
WHEREAS,
after graduating with honors, she worked in the day care field while attending
night classes at Columbia University to earn her master's degree in education
and participating actively in local politics, helping form the
Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League and founding the Unity Democratic Club in
1960, which was instrumental in mobilizing black and Hispanic voters;
and
WHEREAS,
she launched her political career in 1964 when she was elected to the New York
General Assembly, and, after completing her term, campaigned to represent New
York's Twelfth Congressional District and became the first African American
woman elected to Congress; and
WHEREAS,
demonstrating her bold determination, she hired an all-female staff during her
first term in Congress and spoke out in support of civil rights, women's rights,
and the poor and against the Vietnam War; and
WHEREAS,
when she was relegated to the Agriculture Committee, she challenged the
assignment, criticizing it as irrelevant to her urban district, and was
reassigned to the Veterans Affairs Committee and eventually to the Education and
Labor Committees; and
WHEREAS,
an untiring advocate for equality, she joined the Congressional Black Caucus in
1969 as one of its founding members, and in 1970, she co-founded the National
Organization for Women, later commenting that she had always encountered the
most resistance in her political career because of her gender; and
WHEREAS,
on January 25, 1972, Ms. Chisholm announced her candidacy for President of the
United States, running as a "candidate of the people," and, having received 152
delegate votes, helped to pave the way for future women and minority candidates;
and
WHEREAS,
she became one of America's foremost female orators, authored two books,
Unbought and
Unbossed and
The Good
Fight, and, upon her retirement from
Congress in 1982, was named to the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College and
held several other university teaching positions; and
WHEREAS,
still politically active, she was a critical asset in the 1980s to Jesse
Jackson's campaigns for the presidency, and she chaired the increasingly
powerful National Political Congress of Black Women and served on the Advisory
Council of the National Organization for Women; and
WHEREAS,
a devoted champion of women's rights, she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc., and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993;
and
WHEREAS,
on January 1, 2005, this country lost an exceptional woman and an historical
figure with the passing of Shirley St. Hill Chisholm; and
WHEREAS,
her legacy as a woman who fought for positive change in the twentieth century
has been celebrated by filmmaker Shola Lynch in her documentary "Chisholm '72:
Unbought and Unbossed," which will air on PBS in February, 2005.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of
this body join in recognizing and honoring the life of Shirley St. Hill Chisholm
and extend their deepest sympathy to her family and to the State of New York for
the loss of this remarkable woman.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the family of
Shirley St. Hill Chisholm.