Before there was Barack Obama, before there was Kamala Harris, there was Fighting Shirley Chisholm. Running for President chronicles the life of Shirley Chisholm, a woman of matchless integrity and great dignity who had a passion for social justice. Chisolm was the first black woman to seek presidential nomination from a major party when she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in 1972. Back in 1968, she had become the first black woman elected to the US House of Representatives. A daughter of Barbadian immigrants, Chisholm developed her political chops in Brooklyn in the 1950s and went on to become the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. This "pepper pot," as she was known, was not afraid to speak up for what she thought was right. While fighting for a better life for her constituents in New York's 12th Congressional District, Chisholm routinely fought against sexism and racism in her own life and defied the norms of
