Summer Book Club Read on Stories of Black Female Freedom Fighters
This summer, we’re reading ,Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters.
Shirley Anita Chisholm, known as “Fighting Shirley,” was the first African–American Congresswoman who represented a U.S. House district in Brooklyn, New York, representing the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood, where she was born.
Chisholm rose to fame in the national spotlight because of her race, gender, and personality. While working in the U.S. House, she campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, but her notoriety as a progressive limited her influence as a legislator. She coined herself the people’s politician.
Chisholm also was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Women’s Caucus.
Academically, she attended Brooklyn College, graduated cum laude with her B.A. in Sociology, and then earned her M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Columbia University.
She was a nursery school teacher, entrepreneur, educational consultant, community activist for racial equality, feminist, and politician.
BGCHarlem 2020 Book Club made possible by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
BGCHarlem would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the donation of our Summer 2020 Book Club books in our Summer Fun Kits for summer campers toward the amplification of Black voices through Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Equity Initiative. Click here to learn more about HMH’s Books for Equity Initiative.
