Placing current presidential 'history making' in perspective Placing current presidential 'history making' in perspective<http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=dcfedab969f74106b18fa58194893a0a&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3adcfedab969f74106b18fa58194893a0aPost%3ac4fe6271-9dab-4789-921e-addcb823dae0&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.tallahassee.com> Posted 9/10/2008 6:41 AM EDT on tallahassee.com
I've been getting a lot of interesting mail lately on history and how much of it is being made in the current presidential campaign. But history is important only if it is remembered correctly and in its proper perspective. Let's remember that before there was Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barak Obama, there was Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman from New York. She was an African-American and a leader in the women's movement who stunned the nation in 1972 by getting 151 delegates' votes for the Democratic nomination for president. I think she would have enjoyed this election and campaign. But it's odd how she seems to have been forgotten by the history makers of 2008, especially since she paved a path for both Clinton and Obama, the first African-American to win a major party's nomination. In talking with a couple of other editors around the office, I remembered a quote from her about overcoming the "obstacles" of being African-American and a woman. So I looked it up to make sure I had it right. Here are two quotes from her on that: "Of my two 'handicaps' being female put more obstacles in my path than being black." "Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt." Chisholm was the first African-American woman to be a serious candidate for a major party's nomination in this country. Those of us who are old enough and were awake enough to remember Chisholm – I was a sophomore in high school in 1972 – are surprised she hasn't gotten much mention in this campaign. I wonder why her legacy has been all but ignored. She was a powerful and dynamic speaker who turned America on its head and made it think. At least she made some Americans think. The rest were re-electing Richard Nixon. But she was not the first woman to challenge seriously for a major party's presidential nomination: That was Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. More on her shortly. Nor is Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska the first woman vice-presidential nominee. Geraldine Ferraro was the Democrats' nominee for vice president in 1984 and as part of the ticket with Walter Mondale received 37.5 million popular votes. Not only was she the first woman on either party's ticket, but also she was the first – and only – American of Italian descent. We have been pretty narrow-minded in our selection of presidents, even looking beyond race and gender. Let's not forget GOP history, either. In 1964, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman whose name was placed in nomination for president by any major party. That was not a misprint: 1964. Consider this: Sen. Smith was born in the 1800s. She served in the U.S. Senate from 1949 to 1973 and was the first woman in American history elected to both the House and the Senate. She stood up to Sen. Joe McCarthy's communism-scare tactics. Smith seems long forgotten by history – though she died just 13 years ago – but she should not be. During the 1964 convention, she received 27 first-ballot votes before asking that her name be taken out of consideration so the party could unite behind the eventual nominee, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. But none of these women was really the first one to get votes for president of the United States as a nominee of a political party. That honor belongs to Victoria C. Woodhull, who, in 1872, qualified to get on the ballot in several states as the nominee of the Equal Rights Party. Now, just 136 years later, a second woman has been nominated on a major party's ticket: for vice president. That is the banner women such as Clinton and Palin carry: of Woodhull and Smith and Chisholm. It is the history that ought not be forgotten. -- "Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change." - Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks, 1965 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Black Focus Inc." group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Black-Focus-Inc?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
