Portrait of a Peacemaker: Shirley Chisholm

Written by guest author, Robyn Liss

During the 1972 primaries, George Wallace, the then-governor of Alabama and a known segregationist, was shot 5 times in a failed assassination attempt. Surprising the entire nation, including her closest supporters, Congresswoman Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm immediately visited him in the hospital. Chisholm was a fellow presidential candidate and the first black woman to run for president.    

While many people at the time were shocked by Chisholm’s action, according to the student coordinator of her campaign, Robert Gottlieb, “that says everything you need to know about her”. Wallace was a racist but in that moment, Chisholm saw more than his ethics and saw that he was a human in pain. She refused to turn her back on him. Chisholm both led and lived with compassion, whether it was fighting for equal rights on the congressional floor or running for president in the wake of other black candidates taking too long to make a decision.   

Chisholm’s famous catchphrase was “Unbought and Unbossed”. She made her own rules and stuck to them. She was never afraid to speak her mind, even as a first-term representative, which got her a less than warm welcome to Congress. She never let anyone tell her what to do, but she was still as compassionate as ever. Her cause was to fight for equal rights and she stopped at nothing to get it. She gained 152 delegates throughout her run, an impressive 10 percent.

Shirley Chisholm was unafraid to speak her mind, and was an incredible person to her core. She always chose to see the person underneath the beliefs. She believed that both people and the world could be better, and she never gave up on her efforts toward this vision. She taught us to be unafraid in seeking necessary changes, while never forgetting the ‘human’ side of the struggle. 

The recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Texas and Illinois remind us that Shirley’s message and lessons are more prevalent than ever. Shirley taught two key lessons, to be unafraid and to be compassionate. This is the intersection of compassion and courage. Gun violence takes human lives and leaves nothing but grief and destruction in its wake. We need to have compassion for all of the people affected by these tragedies, and we have to have the courage to speak up for them. Shirley always stood up for those who were struggling or hurt. She would be standing against gun violence. It is our responsibility to stand with her.   

Image credit: Getty Images