Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress.

After years of working in education and participating in local civil rights organisations, Shirley Chisholm ran and won a seat in the New York state legislature in 1964. Four years later, she was voted into Congress, becoming the first black woman to do so.

In Congress, she was known as “Fighting Shirley,” as she brought in several pieces of legislation that focused on black rights and women’s rights.

Chisholm eventually ran for president in 1972, but she was barred from most debates and public events. She did not earn the Democratic nomination, but she has been remembered as the first woman and the first African American to seek the presidency.