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Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, I gotta let you know that this November, with a special new episode featuring our friends at Circle Round and Terrestrials on Radiolab for Kids,
And don't miss when Elmo from Sesame Street stops by Wow in the World to make us all belly laugh on November 24th.
Oh, but that's not all, Reg.
On December 1st, we are sharing our 250th episode of Wow in the World with all of you.
We think this one is going to be music to your ears.
Literally.
Did I mention it's a musical?
And if you're a member of the World Organization of Wowzers...
Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you.
You can listen to our 250th episode early with me and other members from around the world on Saturday, November 22nd, at 7 pm.
Eastern.
That's right, we are throwing another listening party.
Join us as we dance along to our new songs.
React to the episode with other members in the chat and more.
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That's it.
It's going to be a November to remember.
But for now, let's get on with the show.
Woo!
Mindy?
Mindy?
Mindy!
Sorry.
Hey there, Ozzy.
We're just listening to the very first episode of Who Win Wow?
And you'll never guess which changemaker Rebecca Shear is introducing us to.
Ah, no spoilers, Mindy.
I haven't been able to listen to the first episode yet.
Where can I find it?
Well, you could search Who, When, Wow in your favorite podcast player, or... Or?
Or we can listen to it together right now.
I always pack an extra pair of ear spuds in my adventure toolkit for times like this.
Where are those things?
Don't you mean ear buds, not ear spuds?
Oh yeah, they're kind of like earbuds, only they're free, because I made them out of the tiny potatoes that I found in your micro garden.
Oh, so that's where my micro potatoes went.
You know it.
Oh, found them.
Here you go, Guy Razzi.
A pair of earspuds for you.
Oh, okay.
All right, hitting play on Who Win Wow in three, two, one.
In the early 1960s, if you were a woman in America, Life looked worlds different from the way it does today.
It's the early 1960s, and women across America have their eyes on the prize.
Marriage and children.
Sure, they can go to college, as long as they become a secretary, teacher, or nurse.
Otherwise, their husbands bring home the bacon, while the little ladies stay home and fry up that bacon in the pan.
Okay, we've heard enough, but how do you turn this thing off?
It's a 1960s television.
There's no remote.
Gah!
Whew!
Much better.
But you get the idea, right?
The early 1960s were not exactly a time of opportunity for the American woman.
The good news is, as the 1960s progressed and America rolled into the 70s, more and more women began pushing back against their limited roles.
And one of them pushed back harder than most.
I stand before you today...
As a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.
Her name was Shirley Chisholm.
And when it came to all those traditional molds for women, this pioneering trailblazer didn't just break the stereotypes.
She shattered them.
I'm Rebecca Shear, and this is Who, When, Wowed.
Many things have brought us to this day.
As history has been compiled, Some important details have slipped away In our spectacular shared existence.
Shirley Chisholm was born on November 30 1924 in Brooklyn, New York.
Shirley's mother, an immigrant from the Caribbean island of Barbados, worked as a seamstress.
Her dad was a factory worker from the South American country of Guyana.
Shirley's family lived in a low-income, mostly African-American neighborhood where it became clear very early on that Shirley was a natural-born leader.
She learned to walk early, she learned to talk early And by the age of two and a half she was showing the neighborhood kids even the ones twice her age exactly who was in charge.
Okay, everybody.
We're going to play another round of Shirley Says.
Whatever I tell you to do, you do.
But only if you hear me say what first.
Shirley Says.
That's right.
Oh, and Rebecca Shear, you're playing too.
I what?
I am?
I mean, I... thought I was just going to narrate this story, but sure, yes, count me in.
All right, so here we go, everybody.
Shirley says quack like a duck.
Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.
Shirley says meow like a cat.
Meow, meow, meow, meow.
Croak like a frog.
Ribbit, ribbit.
Uh-uh-uh, Rebecca Shear.
I didn't say Shirley You're right, Shirley.
You got me.
Is it okay if I go back to telling the story now?
Oh, of course.
Go right ahead.
Thank you, Shirley.
So, by the time Shirley turned three... Wait a minute, Rebecca Shear.
I didn't say Shirley says.
Did I mention that Shirley also had a sly sense of humor?
So, by the time Shirley turned three, her parents were struggling to support the family.
To save money, they sent Shirley and her sisters to live with their grandmother... in Barbados.
Shirley's grandmother was a larger-than-life woman.
I mean, she literally was larger.
She stood at a towering 6'4".
But grandmother was also a powerful force in Shirley's life.
As Shirley later wrote in her autobiography.
I did not know it yet, but this stately woman with a stentorian voice was going to be one of the few persons whose authority I would never dare to defy or even question.
Grandmother gave Shirley pieces of advice that would stick with her forever.
Like You, have a fighting spirit, Shirley.
Don't let anybody turn you around.
And?
You have a good brain, Shirley.
And you've got to make the most of yourself as you grow up, in spite of the fact that you're black and a woman.
Black? and a woman.
As Shirley got older, she would refer to those two traits as her double handicap, her double hindrances, her double obstacles.
And the way she saw it?
I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black.
But as we'll soon hear, she didn't let either one stop her.
After seven years in Barbados, Shirley returned to Brooklyn, where she finished school and enrolled at Brooklyn College.
It was there that she first applied her fighting spirit to politics, activism, and service.
Because, as Shirley would say later in life, service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.
Shirley's service included forming the college's first all black sorority.
She joined the Harriet Tubman Society, an all black student group named for the escaped slave who helped lead hundreds of other slaves to freedom.
As a member, Shirley protested against segregation or keeping whites and blacks apart.
She also pushed for more African-American history courses at her college and fought to get more women in student government.
After graduating, Shirley got a master's degree in education and taught preschool.
Then ran a daycare center.
But in her off hours, she continued her service.
She helped Brooklyn elect its first black judge.
All rise.
Court is now in session.
Judge Lewis S. Flagg presiding.
She also volunteered with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the League of Women Voters.
And then, in 1964, at the age of 40... Please repeat after me.
I, Shirley Chisholm, do solemnly swear.
I, Shirley Chisholm, do solemnly swear That I will support the Constitution.
Shirley made service her full-time job and became the first black woman ever elected to New York's main governing body, the New York State Assembly.
And the Constitution of the State of New York.
Shirley was true to her oath and immediately went to work on behalf of her constituents, the people she represented in her Brooklyn neighborhood, which at the time was one of the poorest districts in the nation.
So help me God.
During her four years in office, Shirley introduced a whopping 50... bills.
Only eight of them passed, but Shirley still made major strides as a... Excuse me, Rebecca Shear?
Can we pause for a moment?
Oh, of course, Shirley Chisholm, of course.
What's up?
Did I forget to mention something?
No, you're doing great.
But when you said only eight of my bills passed during my time in the New York State Assembly, you have to remember they were Important bills.
Bills that changed people's lives.
Let me share a few with you.
How about we try a whole new kind of Shirley Says?
All right.
All right.
Let's do it.
Okay.
Shirley says the state of New York will offer financial assistance for poor students to go to college.
Shirley says the state of New York will allow house cleaners, health aides and other domestic workers to go on unemployment if they lose their jobs.
Shirley says the state of New York will let female teachers keep their jobs after they have a baby.
Now, Rebecca Shear, you may continue.
But wait, you didn't say Shirley Says.
Ha ha, you're catching on.
Shirley Says, you may continue.
When Shirley left the State Assembly in 1968, it was an incredibly tumultuous time in America.
President Lyndon B Johnson was sending troops to Southeast Asia to fight in the war between South Vietnam and communist North Vietnam while demonstrations against the war were raging back home.
Stop the bombing!
Stop the war!
The feminist movement was on the rise, with women across the country marching for their rights.
Equal jobs!
Equal pay!
Equal jobs!
And after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, one of the most important leaders in the civil rights movement, protests erupted in more than 100 cities.
It was against this dramatic backdrop that Shirley Chisholm decided to jump from statewide politics to national and make a bid for the United States House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the U.S.
Congress. the branch of the government that makes laws.
With a campaign slogan of unbought and unbossed fighting.
Shirley Chisholm, as she called herself, ran as a Democrat.
Her opponent, a prominent civil rights activist named James Farmer, was running as a Republican.
But despite their opposing parties, the two candidates actually campaigned similarly on most issues.
Ladies and gentlemen, A vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote for civil rights.
A vote for James Farmer is a vote for civil rights.
A vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote for affordable housing.
A vote for James Farmer is a vote for affordable housing.
A vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote for more jobs.
Access to education.
A vote for Shirley Chisholm is a vote For women's rights.
A vote for James Farmer is a vote for... Wait a minute.
No way.
There's no way I'm going there.
Indeed, despite Farmer's progressive views on so many issues, gender was not one of them.
During the campaign, he would say things like, and these are actual quotes, by the way.
Women have been in the driver's seat in black communities for too long.
And...
This district needs a man's voice in Washington, not that of a little schoolteacher.
Well, that so-called little schoolteacher refused to be daunted.
I look only to my conscience and to God for approval.
I don't look to any man to support me when I get up on the floor to debate or I go out in the streets to fight.
And after going out in the streets to fight this fight, Shirley Chisholm trounced James Farmer.
She got twice as many votes as he did and became the first black woman ever elected to the U.S.
Congress.
But, as she later wrote in her autobiography, that I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman.
Black.
And a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free.
So the moment Shirley Chisholm marched through the doors of the Capitol building in Washington DC, she set out to change that.
And no one, I mean no one, saw what was coming next.
Mindy and Guy Raz here from Wow in the World.
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I'm Rebecca Shear.
Welcome back to Who, When, Wow.
Today we're talking about pioneering politician Shirley Chisholm.
Like politics?
Love the law?
Dream of walking the hallowed halls of the U.S.
Capitol building in Washington, D.C.?
The incoming representative from New York's 12th Congressional District is seeking enthusiastic applicants to join her staff.
All interested parties must be organized. confident, persistent, and, oh yes, a woman.
To apply, contact Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman.
When Shirley Chisholm joined the United States House of Representatives in 1968, she hired an all-female staff, half of them African-American.
No member of Congress had ever done anything like that.
In fact, most members hadn't hired any women at all, except for secretaries.
As Shirley explained, women in this country must become revolutionaries.
We must refuse to accept the old, the traditional roles and stereotypes.
Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.
Shirley was trying to make more opportunities for women.
But as one of just 11 women in the House of Representatives, and the only black woman, she had a rough go of it at first.
Most of the male representatives ignored her or gave her dirty looks.
No one would sit with her in the lunchroom, so she just ate her sandwich and quietly read the newspaper.
But she didn't stay quiet for long.
Back in those days, if you were a first-term Congress member the new kid you weren't supposed to rock the boat or stir things up.
You were supposed to be a good little boy, or girl, and keep your mouth shut.
And when fighting Shirley Chisholm first got to Congress... Welcome to the U.S.
House of Representatives, Mrs. Chisholm.
We're, uh, pleased to have you here.
She did anything but keep her mouth shut.
Well, I thank you, Mr. House Speaker.
It's an honor to be part of Congress.
I, uh...
Suppose you'll be wanting your first committee assignment, Mrs Chisholm, to know which area of legislation you'll be focusing on during your first term in Congress.
Yes, sir.
Given my background in education I have a graduate degree, you know, and I taught for many years I was thinking the Education and Labor Committee would be most appropriate.
But public works could be interesting.
Or small business.
Goodness knows we have Plenty of mom-and-pop shops back where I come from.
I'm going to stop you right there, Mrs. Chisholm.
We're assigning you to... agriculture.
Agriculture?
But, Mr. House Speaker, I'm from Brooklyn.
Apparently, all you know in Washington about Brooklyn is a tree grew there.
Regardless, Mrs. Chisholm, we're assigning... Wait, what?
A tree grew where?
It's the title of a book, Mr. House Speaker.
Oh, I see.
Regardless, you're expected to report to the Committee on Agriculture first thing tomorrow.
Now be a good soldier and do as you're told.
Be a good soldier.
Those were the House Speaker's actual words.
And do you think fighting Shirley Chisholm heeded those words?
No way!
Instead, she did something first-term representatives were never supposed to do.
She fought back.
She dared to go up against the system and issue a formal complaint.
As a result, she was moved to another committee.
Ah, looks like you have a new assignment, Mrs. Chisholm.
Veterans Affairs.
Veterans Affairs, huh?
Well, there are a lot more veterans in my district than trees.
Then she was moved to another committee.
So it looks like you have yet another committee assignment, Mrs Chisholm, the one she had wanted all along.
Let me guess, Mr. House Speaker, education and labor?
How did you know?
Well, it's like I always say, if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.
In Congress, Shirley worked to pass laws that would help people who she felt hadn't been given a seat at the table.
Women children students, domestic workers immigrants veterans, native people, inner city residents.
She also helped create the Congressional Black Caucus so that Congress could better represent the interests of Black Americans.
But within four years of entering Congress, Shirley realized there was an even more powerful way to help those who had been pushed aside.
The year was 1972 and first-term President Richard M Nixon Um is this thing on was bombing in Vietnam.
So I just flew into the country, and boy, are my arms tired.
No, seriously, I was going to drive here, but my car got too tired.
It died of exhaustion.
Okay, so no, not that kind of bombing.
In 1972, America was still fighting in Vietnam.
Richard Nixon, a Republican, was up for re-election that November.
And Democrats, who generally opposed the war, were determined to run a candidate who could defeat him.
Among the contenders who entered the race were former Vice President of the United States, Hubert Humphrey, whose slogans included See Dick run.
Run, Dick, run.
And U.S.
Senator George McGovern, whose slogans included... Happiness is a new president.
And... No more years.
But then...
At a neighborhood church in Brooklyn, someone else stepped into the ring.
Her slogan?
Unbought and unbossed.
I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.
On January 25 1972, Shirley Chisholm became the first woman and first black person to seek the nomination for President of the United States on a major party ticket.
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 the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests.
I am the candidate of the people of America.
And my presence before you now symbolizes a new era in American political history.
As Shirley crisscrossed the country giving speeches and shaking voters' hands, she experienced more than her share of pushback, some of it truly severe.
She faced death threats, assassination attempts.
She found her campaign materials vandalized by racists.
Then she faced the media.
A new hat, rather a bonnet, was tossed into the presidential race today.
Few politicians, black or white, believe it.
We are, I fear, doomed to an era of female meddling in the electoral process.
Not that Mrs. Shirley Chisholm has a chance at top banana, of course.
But Shirley dusted off the put-downs.
Why is it when politicians come out from every corner to get the most important thing?
You have your vote.
Why is it that it has to always be white males, white males, white males, white males, white males.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I conclude by saying if you can't support me or you can't endorse me, get out of my way.
You do your thing and let me do mine.
Two months before the Democratic National Convention, the big event where the party would select its candidate for president, ABC News held a televised debate where Democratic candidates would answer questions about important issues.
Well, guess who wasn't invited to participate?
And guess who dared to take ABC News to court?
And win!
ABC News originally had invited Senator McGovern and Senator Humphrey, the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, to appear on this program.
Friday night, the federal appeals court ruled that Mrs Chisholm must also be invited to participate.
But when it came time for the debate moderator to ask Shirley a question, he didn't ask about her platform or how she would fight for the American people.
Instead, he posed questions like... Between McGovern and Humphrey, who would you support?
And If your own candidacy for the top spot should fail, do you think you could serve as vice president of the United States?
To which fighting Shirley Chisholm replied I can serve as the president of this country, believe it or not.
That's why I am running.
In the end, Shirley Chisholm did not win enough votes to become the Democratic candidate for president.
That honor went to Senator George McGovern, who would go on to lose to President Richard Nixon big time.
Nixon swept 49 states in the general election, including McGovern's home state of South Dakota.
Ah, well, so much for no more years.
After the 1972 election, Shirley Chisholm spent another 10 years serving in Congress.
She became the first Black woman to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee.
She helped form the Congressional Women's Caucus to promote women's issues in Congress.
And she continued working on behalf of all those Americans who weren't being given a seat at the table.
Now, Shirley Chisholm may not have won her bid for president of the United States, but in The Good Fight, the book she later wrote about her campaign, she acknowledged that honestly winning wasn't the reason she ran.
I ran because someone had to do it first.
In this country, Everybody is supposed to be able to run for president, but that's never been really true.
I ran because most people think the country is not ready for a black candidate, not ready for a woman candidate.
The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is not ready to elect to its highest office, I believe he or she will be taken seriously from the start.
The door is not open yet, but it is ajar.
Shirley Chisholm died in 2005, three years before she could see Barack Obama get elected the first black president of the United States and 15 years before she could witness Kamala Harris get elected as the first black and first female vice president.
Before Shirley passed away, she was asked how she'd like to be remembered after she was gone.
Her response?
I'd like them to say, Shirley Chisholm had guts.
That's how I'd like to be remembered.
And thanks to her fighting spirit and her fearless determination to forge her own path, she absolutely will be.
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Special thanks to this week's actors.
Evan Casey.
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