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Quote by Shirley Chisholm

“My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency.”

Quote by Shirley Chisholm

Author

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm was an American politician who became the first African American woman to serve in Congress and the first woman to run for a major party's nomination for President of the United States. Born on November 30, 1924, she represented New York's 12th congressional district from 1969 to 1983. A member of the Democratic Party, Chisholm was known for her advocacy for civil rights, women's rights, and social welfare. Her presidential campaign in 1972 marked a significant milestone in American politics. more

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“Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men.”

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Book:Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition

Source: Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition

“I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.”

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“I had met far more discrimination because I am a woman than because I am black.”

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“The difference between de jure and de facto segregation is the difference between open, forthright bigotry and the shamefaced kind that works through unwritten agreements between real estate dealers, school officials, and local politicians.”

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Book:Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition

Source: Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition

“When I die, I want to be remembered as a woman who lived in the twentieth century and who dared to be a catalyst of change. I don't want to be remembered as the first black woman who went to Congress. And I don't even want to be remembered as the first woman who happened to be black to make a bid for the Presidency I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the twentieth century. That's what I want.”

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Author:Shirley Chisholm

“I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.”

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Author:Shirley Chisholm

“Of my two `handicaps,' being female put more obstacles in my path than being black.”

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Author:Shirley Chisholm

“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I'm not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I'm equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests... I am the candidate of the people...”

“I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free.”

Source: Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition

“Anyone who has ever studied the history of American diplomacy, especially military diplomacy, knows that you might start in a war with certain things on your mind as a purpose of what you are doing, but in the end, you found yourself fighting for entirely different things that you had never thought of before. In other words, war has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end.”