Gloria Steinem Celebrates New Exhibit On BC Alumna Shirley Chisholm and Donates 1972 Campaign Memorabilia

Shirley Chisholm was a political trailblazer. In 1968 she became the first black woman elected to Congress, and in 1972 she sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, the first black candidate to run for a major party’s nomination for the nation’s highest elective office. On Tuesday, Nov. 25, a few days before she would have turned 84, Brooklyn College paid tribute to one of its most prominent alumni.
    Feminist icon Gloria Steinem shared her memories of Chisholm in recognition of a new exhibit cosponsored by the Brooklyn College Women’s Studies Program and the Shirley Chisholm Center for Research on Women. The exhibit, A Catalyst for Change, celebrates Chisholm’s pioneering political career with original documents, including campaign videos, buttons, and position papers, and is on display at the Brooklyn College Library through Dec. 18.
     “To think we had to wait almost four decades for some of what she was talking about to even begin to be true,” Steinem, who campaigned for Chisholm, remarked to a standing-room only crowd in the Woody Tanger Auditorium. Echoes of Chisholm’s groundbreaking campaign reverberated in this year’s historic presidential election, from her rallying call––a catalyst for change––to her own hotly contested Democratic primaries––in which Chisholm was blocked from participating in debates and only allowed on the ballot in six states.
     The event, which was followed by a reception in the library’s Special Collections Division, was attended by many local politicians and others who have worked to keep Chisholm’s legacy alive. Often noting that they owed some portion of their political ambition to Chisholm, U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke and N.Y. State Assemblymembers Nick Perry and Helene Weinstein all gave remarks and read proclamations honoring Chisholm.

    

Top: Gloria Steinem flanked by Barbara Winslow (l), director of the Shirley Chisholm Project of Brooklyn Women's Activism 1945 - Present; and Pat Antoniello, director of the Shirley Chisholm Center for Research on Women. Bottom: Chisholm and Steinem circa 1972. “By her courageous 1972 presidential campaign, Shirley single-handedly took the 'white male only' sign off the White House door,” Steinem said.

    A representative from Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office declared Nov. 25 Shirley Chisholm Day in Brooklyn. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson all sent written remarks. Shola Lynch, who produced a Peabody–award winning documentary on Chisholm, also attended the event as did two members of the latest generation of women to carry the Chisholm torch: Brooklyn College Shirley Chisholm scholars Daphne Brunet and Soribel Feliz, who get an internship with a lawmaker in Albany as part of the award.
    “Use well the voting power for which she fought,” urged Steinem, who donated her delegate pass from the 1972 Democratic National Convention to the Chisholm Center’s collection of memorabilia. “Remember her when you celebrate the first time a woman and an African American were on the ballot in every state.”