By Sister Shirley Tarpley
The 2011 Theme is “Our History is Our Strength.” The stories of Women’s achievements tenacity, courage and creativity throughout the centuries is a tremendous source of strength and knowing some of these stories provides essential role models for everyone; and role models are genuinely needed to face the challenges of the future.
Remember the importance of Black women in America; and about the myriad (innumerable) ways they have changed the world. I also call attention to the spirit of possibility and hope set in motion by generations of Black women in their creation of communities and their encouragement of dreams.
The history of the Black woman is quintessential to women’s history; they have always played a vital role in shaping Americans history. It is the story of amazing women’s accomplishments acclaimed at the time but written out of history.
Shirley Anita Chisholm is the first Black woman elected to Congress; she was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York to Charles and Ruby St. Hill. She received her early education from the British school system. She excelled in academics at the Girls High School in Brooklyn and graduated in 1942. In college Chisholm majored in sociology. She encountered racism at Brooklyn College and fought against it. When the Black students at Brooklyn College were denied admittance to a social club, Chisholm formed an alternative one. She graduated in 1946.
In 1949, she married Conrad Chisholm, a Jamaican, who worked as a private investigator; the helped to form the Bedford-Stuyvesant political League. She also formed the Unity Democratic Club, which was instrumental in mobilizing Black and Hispanic voters.
In 1968 Chisholm campaigned to represent New York’s Twelfth Congressional District. Her slogan was “fighting Shirley Chisholm – Unbought and unbossed.” She won the election and became the first Black woman elected to Congress.
On Jan. 25, 1972, Chisholm announced her candidacy for president, and said, “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 am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people.” Although she did not win the nomination, she received 151 of the delegates’ votes. She served in the House of Representatives until 1982.
Great Quotes: Your success and happiness lie in you . . . Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties – Helen Keller. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dream – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Patricia Bath was the first Black female doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention; a machine for ablating and removing cataract lenses.
Henrietta Bradberry invented a bed rack with an attachment to the bed that permitted air to pass through and refresh worn clothes in 1943; and in 1945, the device operated pneumatically and was adapted to discharge torpedoes under the water surface (the Torpedo Discharger.)
Bessie Blount, a physical therapist who worked with soldiers injured in WW II, invented a device allowing amputees to feed themselves in 1951. Alice Parker in 1919 invented a new and improved gas heating furnace. The invention provided a mechanism for regulating heat to be carried to various rooms in a building.
