She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm

Tracing the remarkable Shirley Chisholm’s life from her childhood in Brooklyn and Barbados to her work as a teacher and community activist, Russell-Brown builds to her groundbreaking political career: member of the New York State Assembly, first black woman elected to Congress, and 1972 presidential campaigner—the first black person to run for the office. Though Chisholm, famously “Unbought and Unbossed,” is presented as a fighter (“She worked for laws that helped women, children, students, poor people, farmworkers, Native people, and others who were often pushed aside”), the details of those fights remain off the page, complicating the reader’s understanding of the opposition Chisholm faced and the scope of her achievements. Velasquez’s realistic watercolor images use a photographic sensibility to present snapshots of Chisholm’s life. An afterword includes fuller biographical information, photographs, and sources. Ages 6–12. [em](June) [/em]