By The Grio
Senator Kamala Harris and Rep. Yvette Clarke, both Democrats, are now sponsoring legislation to put up a statue of Shirley Chisholm who was the first black woman elected to Congress.
“Shirley Chisholm deserves a permanent place among other defining figures in the Capitol,” Clarke posted on social media. “Representation matters.”
Several other Democratic senators are co-sponsoring the bill. Some of those co-sponsors are Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine and Bernie Sanders. They are joined by Chuck Schumer as well.
The measure would see the Joint Committee on the Library agree to get the statue up within 5 years of the bill being passed.
Shirley Chisolm is the ideal candidate for the honor what with Black History Month and the beginning of Women’s History Month. Throughout her monumental political career, she was the first black candidate and the first female candidate to run for the presidential nomination.
Shirley Chisholm served in Congress from 1969 to 1983. She is the daughter of Caribbean immigrants who 50 years ago became the first Black woman elected to Congress but that is just the beginning of all that she went on to accomplish and the fights she took on, on the behalf of everyday Americans.
She fought to increase to increase the minimum wage as well as supported our veterans and worked hard to expand access to healthcare. Shirley Chisholm also helped found the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Organization for Women.
She once said, “I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.” It is in fact how she is remembered to this day and soon there might even be a statue in honor of this great woman.
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