Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Anita St Hill was born on October 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, NY to parents Ruby and Charles St. Hill. She was of Barbadian and Guyanese descent, with both of her parents being immigrants from the Caribbean. SHe grew up in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York and attended Brooklyn College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1946. She later pursued a Master's degree in elementary education at Columbia University, completing her studies in 1952. She was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In the 1972 United States presidential election, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.