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E28 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks January 4, 2005 MOURNING THE LOSS OF SHIRLEY from the walls, and she’d talk about mal- the major parties. The Congressional Black CHISHOLM nourished schoolchildren, and she’d raise her Caucus hardly had the numbers then that it fist, and her big mound of cloudlike hair has now, but she rolled her eyes when its would bob, and she would start to crying, members asked why she hadn’t discussed her HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS tears rolling from beneath those beatnik-era presidential plans with them. ‘‘Shirley had a OF NEW YORK glasses. She would turn her back to the audi- lot of self-confidence,’’ says Rangel. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ence—as if she couldn’t stand her own ‘‘I Am Woman’’ by Helen Reddy was hum- tears—and then turn around to face the folk ming on the jukebox that year. Tuesday, January 4, 2005 in the pews, and they’d be stomping. ‘‘Black people needed somebody,’’ says ‘‘I used to say to her, ‘You should go into Sutton. ‘‘We had lost Martin and Malcolm.’’ Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great He raised the first $25,000 for her presidential sadness that I rise to mourn the passing of my drama,’ ‘‘recalls Edolphus Towns, a Demo- cratic congressman from Brooklyn. ‘‘She campaign. predecessor and mentor, former Congress- At the Democratic National Convention in could drop tears at any time.’’ Miami Beach, she was smiling from the po- woman Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm began her working life in 1950s dium—those glasses, that hair, the dark As the first African-American woman elected Brooklyn. She was the director of a day-care skin. Simply getting there was a huge vic- to Congress and the first African-American to center and worked as an educational consult- tory. seriously run for the office of the Presidency, ant for the city. The tots had parents and ‘‘The next time a woman runs,’’ she wrote Shirley was a trailblazer who opened the she befriended them and got herself elected in her 1973 autobiography, ‘‘The Good doors of opportunity for generations of women to the New York State Assembly in 1964. She Fight,’’ ‘‘or a black, a Jew or anyone from a and minority politicians. was headed to Albany, the same place that group that the country is ‘not ready’ to elect Her advocacy for the education of the dis- launched the national political careers of to its highest office, I believe he or she will Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey, Frank- advantaged, Title IX, and early childhood edu- be taken seriously from the start. The door lin D. Roosevelt and many others. is not open yet, but it is ajar.’’ cation established her as one of the foremost In the ’60s, the talk in New York of black And, in time, they came: Geraldine Fer- education policymakers during her seven political figures focused on names such as raro, Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lieberman. terms in Congress. But her legacy did not end Basil Patterson, Percy Sutton, Charlie Ran- The last time William Howard saw Chis- there. Unmatched as a voice for social justice, gel. They were young lions who belonged to holm was a year and a half ago in Manhat- Shirley fought for the interests of groups like Harlem political clubs. (There was also tan. She had wanted to go dancing. She was veterans, Haitian refugees and day workers. Adam Clayton Powell, the once-powerful peering at him, through those beatnik glass- A gifted orator, Shirley’s ‘‘unbought and congressman who had crawled back to Con- es, out on the dance floor, imploring him to gress in 1969 after an expulsion and scan- tell the band to play something jazzy. unbossed’’ political style allowed her to make dalous headlines. But his day was now gone.) f friends and political alliances on both sides of But Patterson and Sutton and Rangel sud- the aisle. She was truly one in a million and denly had to yank their heads and look HONORING THE MEMORY OF I am honored to have been part of her Brook- across the bridge, to Brooklyn. FORMER REPRESENTATIVE lyn political circle and to have worked along Shirley who? SHIRLEY CHISHOLM side her throughout her political career. Any- ‘‘Shirley came out of Brooklyn, and that one who came in contact with Shirley Chis- was one of the roughest political arenas you can come out of—even today,’’ says Rep. HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER holm was forever changed for the better; she Rangel (D), who knew Chisholm for decades. OF NEW YORK is one soul on this earth who is truly irreplace- ‘‘For her to succeed, she had to be a little IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES able and she will be sorely missed by all of strange—and certainly extraordinary.’’ Tuesday, January 4, 2005 those who knew and loved her. In addition to being a woman and from Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, today, I f Brooklyn, Chisholm was also—unlike Powell, Sutton, Rangel and Patterson—dark- rise to honor the memory of former Congress- REMEMBERING SHIRLEY skinned. Given the history of skin color, she woman Shirley Chisholm, who was a national CHISHOLM had an extra ladder to climb, and did so with role model. relish, carrying herself with the insouciance I followed in the footsteps of Rep. Chisholm HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL of the world’s most attractive woman. in several respects, having served both in the So there she’d be, needing a ride to Albany New York State Assembly and in the House of OF NEW YORK and getting herself over to Harlem so that Representatives. To my knowledge, we are IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Sutton, who was also in the assembly, could pick her up. the only two Democratic women from New Tuesday, January 4, 2005 ‘‘Shirley would meet us on the corner of York State to have that distinction. Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, today I’m filled 125th and Seventh—now Adam Clayton Pow- Shirley Chisholm was a tireless advocate for with great sadness that on the eve of the ell Boulevard—and ride with us to Albany,’’ social justice, and for that legacy our country 109th Congress we mourn the passing of my says Sutton. ‘‘We did that for two years.’’ will be eternally grateful. Sutton noted something about Chisholm As the first black woman to be elected to longtime friend and colleague, Shirley Chis- on those rides. She was hungry for debate: the U.S. Congress and to run for president of holm, the first African-American woman elect- ‘‘Even if she agreed with you, she’d want to the United States, Shirley Chisholm threw ed to Congress and the first of her race to debate you!’’ open the doors to greater opportunities for seek a major party nomination for the Presi- With the ’60s drawing to a close, Chisholm women and minorities. dency. She died at her Ormond Beach, FL was swimming in the waters of history. ‘‘She had the imagination,’’ says Rangel, ‘‘of being Along with Congresswoman Bella Abzug, home on New Year’s Day at the age of 80. Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan—also great I commend to my colleagues the following first—and tenacious.’’ So she announced in 1968 that she was run- women’s rights leaders—Shirley Chisholm article describing a time in the life of Shirley ning for Congress. There were howls of founded the National Women’s Political Cau- Chisholm written by Wil Haygood in the Wash- laughter, though not from the church ladies, cus in 1971. She also helped found the Con- ington Post on January 4, 2005. who saw themselves in the reflection of her gressional Black Caucus. Both of these orga- [From the Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2005] beatnik eyeglasses. nizations have served an important role in in- A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE In 1968, she became the first black woman creasing representation of women and minori- elected to Congress. She grinned and gave SHIRLEY CHISHOLM TOOK A BACK SEAT TO NO the peace sign. It wasn’t black power. It was ties in Congress. ONE Shirley power. She wound up serving seven I think it is important to note her life-long (By Wil Haygood) terms. passion for improving educational opportuni- There was something so plain and yet so She pushed for antipoverty legislation and ties for our Nation’s youth, carrying on this tra- defiant about her. Studious and yet a little became a star. Ebony magazine wanted her, dition after her years in Congress by serving jazzy, especially in front of those Brooklyn and so did Ms. magazine. She appeared with as the Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke church ladies. Reps. Barbara Jordan and Bella Abzug. She College. Shirley Chisholm, the former congress- was known as honest and honorable. ‘‘Chis- She also promoted increased assistance for woman who died New Year’s Day in Florida holm would not set up any kind of a side deal urban areas, land rights for Native Americans, at age 80, came along at a moment in the for her mother, brother, or cousin,’’ says fair treatment of Haitian refugees, and more 1960s when there was a bubbling symmetry William Howard, who served as her financial between the women’s liberation movement adviser. help for working-class families trying to make and the civil rights movement. She was hold- When Chisholm announced a run for the ends meet. ing two candles in the wind. presidency in 1972, it seemed a little strange. I join together with our Nation in honoring At church podiums in Brooklyn, she’d talk She was the first black to conduct a large- her life’s work.

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