On her birthday, L'OFFICIEL celebrates political pioneer Shirley Chisholm and her feminist legacy that paved the way for the first female U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. 

The pivotal Brooklyn-born politician Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm once said, &ldquo;If they don&#39;t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.&rdquo; As the first-ever Black woman to be elected to Congress in 1968, the first Black woman to run for president as a major-party candidate in 1972, and the first Black woman to participate in a presidential debate, it&#39;s fair to say that Chisholm is&nbsp;responsible for having brought the folding chair upon which <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/kamala-harris-biden-running-mate">Madam Vice President-elect Kamala Harris</a> now sits.

Already the first African-American woman elected to Congress, Chisholm declared&nbsp;her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, campaigning&nbsp;with her famed slogan &ldquo;<a href="https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B008PINHIG&amp;preview=newtab&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_WQmjFbVGGFPN9&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;reshareId=QQB401KDJ0Q8BM54B7RV&amp;reshareChannel=system">unbought and unbossed</a>.&rdquo; The political powerhouse ran and lost against the South Dakota Senator George McGovern, who was subsequently demolished by Republican candidate Richard Nixon. While she may not have made it to the general election, her run was chock full of gutsy, gritty, and honest speeches, taking on the topics of systemic racism and sexism&nbsp;with a unique, firsthand experience. Facing an unprecedented amount of discrimination from all corners, Chisholm boldly&nbsp;spoke out against the Vietnam War, advocated for national school lunches, longer hours at day-care facilities in order to better support the working mother, and backed guaranteed minimum annual income for families. Her formative presidential bid rendered a significant crack in the thick and enduring glass ceiling for the women and people of color to come after her.

A campaign poster from Chisholm's 1972 presidential bid.

Forty-eight years later, Chisholm&rsquo;s campaign has newfound significance. With an effigy in the works near her native Brooklyn&rsquo;s Prospect Park, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-04-24/mrs-america-shirley-chisholm-abortion-convention">Uzo Abuda&rsquo;s Emmy-winning portrayl</a> of the political trailblazer in FX&rsquo;s hit-series <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/emmy-awards-2020-see-all-the-nominees">Mrs. America</a>, and an upcoming Amazon biopic starring Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis still in development, her impact reaches far beyond statues and the screen. After the August announcement that Joe Biden chose the former California D.A. and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, she was made the first woman of color positioned on a presidential ticket in the general election. In fact, during Harris&rsquo; own run for the Democratic presidential nomination, she paid homage to Chisholm&rsquo;s 1972 Catalyst for Change&nbsp;campaign with her For the People&nbsp;logo.

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It turns out that the two trailblazing women have quite a bit in common. While Chisholm&rsquo;s father originally hailed from Guyana and her mother from Barbados, Harris is also a daughter of immigrants&mdash;her mother from India and her father from Jamaica. Just as Chisholm set a number of firsts in her presidential primary run, Harris, too, is setting precedent.&nbsp;As the first female, the first Black, and the first Asian American to serve in a position so high in the U.S. government, Harris&#39; appointment marks a monumental point in history.&nbsp;

During her <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/meaning-behind-kamala-harris-victory-fashion-election">victory speech on November 7, 2020</a>, Kamala Harris said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m thinking about [my mother] and about the generations of women&mdash;Black women, Asian, White, Latina, Native American women who throughout our nation&rsquo;s history have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are often, too often, overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy. All the women who worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century: 100 years ago with the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/politics-culture/meaning-behind-kamala-harris-victory-fashion-election">19th Amendment</a>, 55 years ago with the Voting Rights Act and now, in 2020, with a new generation of women in our country who cast their ballots and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard. Tonight, I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision&mdash;to see what can be, unburdened by what has been. And I stand on their shoulders.&rdquo;

Kamala Harris' Victory Speech

Recognizing the women that came before her, Harris&#39; speech nods to the work of Chisholm. The future VP also gave a birthday shoutout to the congresswoman on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIOjwKTBBxa/">Instagram</a>, crediting her for paving the way and saying, &quot;On her birthday, we celebrate her brilliance and boldness to break down barriers, fight to increase the minimum wage, and speak for those who otherwise wouldn&rsquo;t have a voice in the political process.&quot;

Much like Harris today is&nbsp;celebrated for representing women and minorities in politics, Chisholm&rsquo;s seminal run for president&nbsp;worked to advance both women&rsquo;s issues and African American issues alike. She ran for marginalized communities, placing a glaring spotlight on the aggressive inequality in America.&nbsp;The political trailblazer once said, &ldquo;The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little smoother because I helped pave it.&rdquo;&nbsp;

For a Black woman in the 1970s to believe that she could conceivably run, win, and attain the highest office our nation has to offer was considered an audacious act in her day, and as audacious as she was,&nbsp;Chisholm walked so Harris could run.&nbsp;

How Shirley Chisholm Kicked the Door Open for Kamala Harris

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