Chisholm's Black Feminism | Anastasia Curwood | TMR

Emma hosts Anastasia Curwood, Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, to discuss her recent book Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics. Professor Anastasia Curwood then dives right into her work creating what may be the first true cradle-to-grave biography of one of America’s most important political figures of the 20th Century, parsing through Shirley Chisholm’s roots as a Brooklyn-born daughter of formerly enslaved immigrants from Barbados, immediately entering into a world of Black radicalism and political organizing, from her grandmother’s emphasis on self-determination to her father’s involvement with Marcus Garvey, all shaping the lead up to her political career. Next, Professor Curwood walks Emma through the start of Chisholm’s entrance into politics, running with insurgent Democrat clubs to win a seat on the New York State Assembly in 1964, where she would align herself growing Civil Rights movement and garner an incredible grassroots base that, alongside the electoral realignment coming out of the Civil Rights Act, put her in an ideal position to become Brooklyn’s first Black Congressperson as she road through a tough primary against former CORE Director James Farmer, before winning the general at the end of 1968. After tackling her role (both in the New York State Assembly and in the House) in fighting for a bolstered social safety net (including pushing a universal childcare bill all the way to Nixon’s veto), Emma and Anastasia Curwood wrap up the interview by assessing Chisolm’s relationship to the White Feminist movement of the era, including organizing greatly with women like Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem earlier in her political career, only to be completely deserted by them in her 1972 presidential run.

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Check out more from the MR crew:

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Anastasia Curwood professor of history and director of The Commonwealth Institute for Black studies at the University of Kentucky author of Shirley Chisholm champion of black feminist power politics. Anastasia thanks so much for coming on today. really appreciate it. I'm happy to be here. thank you for having me. of course so so sure Shirley Chisholm first black woman to serve in Congress also presidential candidate in in 1972. from from our backyard here in Brooklyn where we broadcast from. there are like a million biographies on every white man in U.S history. I was shocked to know when researching your book that this is the first biography on her life. is that true? it's the first Cradle to grave biography. wow. and it's the first one published for a general audience that really took a deep dive into original research. and there's really yeah it's it's been staggering to me actually. I thought for sure by the time I finished this there would be three or four but but no. I mean what does that say about obviously we're a country that's like deeply racist and uninterested in in black stories but particularly black female stories I would say. yeah well that's I think that's a lot of it. they're yeah there just aren't very many biographies of black women period. And I think it's the idea not only racism and sexism.