"Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was both the first African American woman elected to the US Congress and the first African American woman of a major political party to make a serious run for president of the United States. Though her run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination may not have ended in victory, it was successful in forging a grassroots campaign that united diverse Americans behind a candidate who championed their collective interests and that laid the groundwork for change then, now, and in the future"--