The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Anne Schwartz Books
(pub.6.1.2021) 48 pages
Author: Alicia D. Williams
Illustrator: April Harrison
Character: Shirley Chisholm
Overview: "Meet Shirley, a little girl who asks way too many questions! After spending her early years on her grandparents' farm in Barbados, she returns home to Brooklyn and immediately makes herself known. Shirley aces school; she breaks her mother's curfew; she plays jazz piano instead of classical. And as a young adult, she fights against the injustice she sees around her, against women and black people. Soon she is running for state assembly...and winning in a landslide. Three years later, she is on the campaign trail again, as the first black woman to run for Congress. Her slogan? "Fighting Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and Unbossed!" Does she win? You bet she does." Tantalizing taste:
"A seat in the New York State Assembly opens - but there's one problem: it has always, always been made up of daring , rebellious, persistent white men. Shirley isn't deterred.
During the campaign, words, words, and more words are thrown at her.
Shirley hears only the most important words, from her father long ago: Make something of yourself."
And something more: Alicia D. Williams writes in the Author's Note: "In 1968, during her run for Congress, Shirley became ill. Just days after having a noncancerous tumor removed, she willed herself back on the campaign trail, announcing: 'This is Fighting Shirley Chisholm and I'm up and around ...' Shirley beat Republican and civil rights activist James Farmer, then hired mainly women - both black and white - as her staff."