About the “Cast”


Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York to Charles and Ruby St. Hill.  She died of natural causes on January 1, 2005 in Ormond Beach, Florida where she lived.

Beginning in 1927, Shirley and her sisters lived with their maternal grandmother in Barbados, where they received a solid education from the strict British colonial school system. In 1934, the St. Hill girls rejoined their parents in Brooklyn, New York. Shirley St. Hill excelled in academics at Girls High School in Brooklyn, graduating with honors. In 1942, she enrolled in Brooklyn College where she majored in sociology and minored in Spanish. Deciding on a teaching career, her first job was at the Mt. Calvary Childcare Center in Harlem where she worked in education until 1959. In 1949, she married Conrad Chisholm, a Jamaican who worked as a private investigator.

Shirley Chisholm’s interest in local politics began with her father, who was a “Union man and a Garveyite.” She participated in local Bedford-Stuyvesant Democratic politics, working her way from decorating cigar boxes for the local Democratic Club to State Assemblywoman in 1964, serving until 1968. In 1968, Chisholm campaigned to represent New York's Twelfth Congressional District with the slogan: "Fighting Shirley Chisholm — Unbought and Unbossed." She won the election, becoming the first African American woman elected to Congress.

On January 25, 1972, after two terms in Congress, Chisholm announced her candidacy for president. She boldly stood at the podium and said, "I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America. 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 of America."




Tom Asher was the founder of Media Access Project in 1972. He is now a lawyer in Massachusetts.




Amiri Baraka was a poet and activist in 1972. He still is.





Susan Brownmiller is a journalist and author, as she was in 1972.





Octavia Butler is a writer of science fiction. She began writing in 1972.





Conrad Chisholm was Shirley’s husband for over twenty years.





Ronald Dellums was a Congressman in 1972. He is currently a consultant living in the Washington DC area.





Shirley Downs was Chisholm’s Congressional Aide. She is now retired.





Reverend Walter Fauntroy was a Congressman representing the District of Columbia in 1972. He is now a Reverend at New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington DC.





Sandra Gaines was a Mills College Student and Chisholm Campaigner in 1972. Currently, she is a retired School Teacher living in the Oakland area.





Muriel Forde is Shirley Chisholm’s younger sister. She lives in Barbados.





Robert Gottlieb was a Cornell College senior and Chisholm for President Student Coordinator in 1972. He is now a lawyer in the New York area.





Paula Giddings was a journalist and editorial assistant at Random House in 1972. Currently, she is an author teaching in the Afro-American Studies Department at Smith College in Massachusetts.






Barbara Lee was a single-mother, Mills College Student, and Chisholm campaigner in 1972. Inspired by Shirley Chisholm and Ronald Dellums, she is now a Congresswoman representing the ninth district in California.





James Richardson was an eighteen-year old McGovern campaigner in 1972. He recently made a career shift from journalist to clergyman.





Wilson Riles was Bay Area Coordinator for the Chisholm campaign in 1972. He later served many years on the Oakland City Council and is currently pursuing his Ph.D.






Victor Robles was a Chisholm Congressional District Office Staffer in 1972. He is now the City Clerk and Clerk of the Council for the City of New York.





Bobby Seale was the Co-chair of the Black Panther Party in 1972. He is now a public speaker and entrepreneur.





Arlie Scott was a graduate student in history, Director of the National Organization for Women’s Studies Center, Los Angeles when she campaigned for Chisholm in 1972. She is now retired and lives in Cambridge, MA.





Carolyn Smith was Chisholm’s Executive Assistant in 1972. She is now retired and an avid skier.

Jules Witcover was a political reporter for the Los Angeles Times in 1972. He is now an author and nationally syndicated columnist for The Baltimore Sun.