GospelCity Black History Month Salute to Political Figures

By Robin Caldwell

The woman was first and the others would follow, whether in actively running for president of the United States of America or pushing the envelope as in the case of Colin Powell. Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell and Barack Obama are trailblazers who have earned places in the annals of American history as African Americans who have forged political careers based on their being “firsts” in many instances and courageous to follow their convictions.

Shirley Chisholm

“In spite of hopeless odds . . . to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo…”

Shirley Chisholm exhibited the fire and passion of her Caribbean ancestry as she fought a good fight against the social and racial injustices in her homeland, the U.S.A. The hallmark of Chisholm’s service was her adamancy to remain ethical and in her own words, “unbought and unbossed.”

Chisholm was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and received a degree in education from Columbia University’s Teacher College. She worked as a teacher and educational consultant until 1964 when she ran for and won a seat on the New York State Legislature. In 1968, Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to the U. S. Congress and served in that capacity for seven terms until 1983.

In 1972, the tenacious public servant threw her hat into the ring and ran as the first African American to run for the highest office in the land, U. S. president, representing the Democratic Party. She won 162 delegates and even caused a stir because she dared to visit political and ideological rival George Wallace in the hospital after his paralyzing shooting.

Throughout her congressional career, Chisholm worked to insure the rights of inner-city residents and even pushed for the passing of legislation that would give domestic workers the right to receive minimum wage. She was a vocal opponent of the draft and worked to reduce military spending. Moreover, Chisholm fought to make education accessible to all citizens.

Shirley Chisholm retired from public office in 1983, receiving the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College, where she taught for four years. And she was a much sought after speaker on the lecture circuit.

She retired to Florida and passed away on January 1, 2005. Shirley Chisholm was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, NY.

Barack Obama

“My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.”

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. is on the verge of making history in one of the most controversial and historical presidential campaigns in the United States of America. Born to a teen mother who was white and American and to an educated, Muslim father from Kenya, Barack Obama is becoming a bridge builder in a nation whose history is marred by racial division.

A graduate of two Ivy League universities, Columbia and Harvard respectively, Obama was an active community organizer who left Chicago to attend law school at Harvard, where he would become the first African American president of the school’s Law Review in its 104-year history.
In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate and served until 2004 to run for a U. S. Senate office, which he won. For a considerable time, Obama denied that he was interested in running for president of the U.S., though those denials turned into veiled interest and finally in February 2007 he officially stepped into the pool of candidates vying for the highest office in the land, as a Democrat.

The author of two books, Dreams from my Father and The Audacity of Hope, Obama walks in an audacity that enables him to publicly test for HIV/AIDS to demonstrate its value and shamelessness; discuss being multicultural in a country that is still divided along race and class lines; and demonstrate an image of a black man who loves his God (he is Christian), his wife and children, and who is living the American dream.

If all goes in his favor, Barack Obama could very well be the U.S.’s first black president, but certainly not the last as he demonstrates and proselytizes the audacity of a much-needed and overdue hope.

Jesse Jackson

“Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.”

Born to a single, teen mother in Greenville, South Carolina, Jesse Jackson received a football scholarship at the racially integrated University of Illinois. A year later, he transferred to the historically black North Carolina A & T University, where he became a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1968, he was ordained as a Baptist minister in Chicago, Illinois.

Martin Luther King, Jr. selected Jackson to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, and a year later Jackson was appointed national director of the organization. Jackson would gain further notoriety and attention as being with Dr. King on the day of his assassination, April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

After constant clashes with Ralph Abernathy, King’s predecessor, Jackson would leave the SCLC in 1971 to found and organize Operation Push, which was widespread in support because of its youth consciousness. In 1984, Jackson would organize the National Rainbow Coalition to forge his political interests and fund his social activism.

Running as a Democrat, Jesse Jackson became the second African American (Shirley Chisholm was first) to forge a nationwide campaign for the office of president of the United States in 1984. Considered a fringe candidate, Jackson surprised opponents by finishing third in the campaign. In 1988, he reemerged as a presidential candidate and more than doubled his previous wins and presenting himself as a formidable and serious opponent. The nomination would go to Michael Dukakis who was defeated that fall by George Bush in the general election.

Jesse Jackson continues his activism and resides in Chicago, Illinois, where his son, Jesse Jr. is a U. S. Congressman.

Colin Powell

“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception...”

General Colin Luther Powell was the first African American appointed to the office of Secretary of State under President George W. Bush in 2001, and before then he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Security Advisor. He would come to public prominence as a leader during the Gulf War.
Born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx, Powell graduated from City College of New York with a degree in geology. Between tours of duty in Vietnam, he would complete requirements for a MBA at The George Washington University. Colin Powell served as a professional soldier for thirty-five years, where he gained a reputation for being the “reluctant warrior” who opted for diplomacy over a first response of military action.

After retiring from public service, Powell became a strategic limited partner with a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. A few years later, he became an outspoken critic of the government’s handling of relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina. And he has also revealed that he tried to persuade President Bush to avoid war in Iraq.
Colin Powell has two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award and a Congressional Gold Medal. And he has received the highest honor of the Boy Scouts of America.

Considered an elder American statesman, Colin Powell resides in New York City with his wife, Alma.