Ms. Chisholm was a force of nature - spirited, unyielding, groundbreaking. She was outspoken when women and blacks were openly reviled for being so, and she neither suffered fools gladly nor meekly acceded to the limitations others tried to foist upon her. Those limitations came not only from her political enemies, but sometimes from her own adherents:
During her failed presidential bid, Chisholm went to the hospital to visit George Wallace, her rival candidate and ideological opposite, after he had been shot -- an act that appalled her followers.
"He said, 'What are your people going to say?' I said: 'I know what they're going to say. But I wouldn't want what happened to you to happen to anyone.'"
Her Congressional campaign was inspired by her belief that "Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men."
What's shocking is that 36 years later, her description is still accurate.
Shirley Chisholm fought for the underdog - the poor, the underprivileged, women, African Americans. An activist, a rabblerouser, and - as the title of her book aptly noted - "unbought and unbossed," she was, in the words of Shakespeare, an "unruly woman." He didn't mean it as a compliment - but I do.
Once, when asked about her legacy, she said, "I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That's how I'd like to be remembered."
Consider it done.
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