(upbeat music) - Hey, man, you look good.

- Who, me?

No, you look good.

- No, you look good.

- No, man, you look good.

- They're going to - - Oh!

Hey, it's Cory.

I'm on my way to the annual Banquet of History-Verse Travelers, and this year's theme, dressed as your historical inspiration, and I'm sure you all can tell who I'm going as, Madam Shirley Chisholm.

Hello!

Now, I know you all not stuck because my inspiration is a woman, right?

I mean, women have been some of the greatest minds and inspirations in all of history.

Oh, it's not about that at all.

You all just don't know much about Shirley Chisholm.

Oh, okay, because I was like, you all going to tell me I can't dress like a woman.

But then I'm like, no, you all too smart to- Okay, well, this is even easier to explain.

Let me tell you about how Ms. Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first woman of color to run for president as a main party candidate, and how she remained unbought and unbossed!

For most of America's history, women were treated as inferior to men.

The laws of the time made it practically impossible for women to have the freedom to do anything on their own.

In order to fix this problem, women needed to be able to represent themselves and speak on the unfair system.

This is Seneca Falls, New York, and this is where the fight for the women's movement takes its first big turn in a positive direction for the country.

Maybe some of you have heard of the suffrage movement, not to be confused with the word suffering.

Suffrage was the movement pushing for women to have the right to vote.

The Seneca Falls Convention is where after two whole days, 68 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of Sentiments calling for women to have the same rights as men, including the right to vote.

When I say the rights that men had, I really mean wealthy white men because those were the men that had the rights.

And when I say women, I really mean white women because as time went on, the leaders of the suffrage movement thought they could get further if they separated the needs of all women to focus solely on white women.

It's kind of messed up, isn't it?

This is the kind of thing that happens when a group of oppressed people feel pitted against each other from those in power.

Sometimes, that situation can bring communities closer together, and other times, it makes people feel like they can only succeed if they leave others behind.

Let's jump ahead to the year 1920.

Throughout this 70-year time span, the women's movement had not slowed down.

As protests, campaigns, and advancements continued for suffrage, women from all races showed their support, like Mary Talbert from Buffalo, New York.

Despite the fact that she didn't win the right to vote because she was Black, she still protested For this cause.

On August 18th, 1920, the US Constitution ratified the 19th Amendment, giving white women the right to vote nationally.

Do you think they stopped there?

Nah.

This win fueled the women's movement.

Women like Alice Paul kept pushing when she introduced the Equal Rights Amendment to Congress over a century ago, which proposed to give the same constitutional rights to all citizens, no matter their gender.

With the achievement of women's suffrage, there was a clear view on what women still needed to fight for beyond voting.

Cut to feminism.

This may be a word many of you are familiar with, but what does feminism truly mean?

One way to define it is the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women.

That does sound pretty official.

But it can also be defined as universal human rights for all.

Others say, "Dismantling the patriarchy," "Hippy talk," "Burning bras", "Women are better than men," "Putting women first."

Oh, okay, okay, okay, wait.

At the core of it, feminism is about true equality for women in society, and because of activists like Betty Friedan, a leading figure in the women's movement and credited with sparking modern day feminism, we come to understand that feminism is the effort for every human being to determine their own fate and identity.

Yes, this includes men as well, because the idea that men have to be in power and in control forces us into a box and limits our potential to live however we want to live.

Huh?

Oh, right, the banquet.

Let's continue.

We've discussed the women's movement through women's suffrage at the turn of the 20th century and through the first wave of feminism going through to the 1960s.

This time period brings us back to my inspiration.

This woman was a queen, charismatic, determined, and iconic.

That's right, Ms. Shirley Chisholm.

(people cheering) By the 1960s, Ms. Chisholm had already accomplished so many amazing feats.

She received her master's degree from Columbia University.

She was a member of the NAACP.

She had become the second Black person in the New York State legislature.

And in 1968, she won a seat in Congress.

There's a reason why they gave her the nickname, "Fighting Shirley."

One of the highlights Ms. Chisholm often talked about is something we now refer to as intersectionality.

Big word, I know, but it's not a hard concept to understand.

Here's an example.

So, I'm Cory.

But what makes me me?

Well, I'm a man and I'm Black, I'm an educator, an amazing dancer, I'm a son and a brother, and all these other details that come to an intersection to make me who I am.

Now, we all have that.

In our society, sometimes a bunch of these identities can give you a hidden advantage, but other times, these things can give you a hidden disadvantage.

In the 1960s, being a woman meant you weren't given all the rights and respect you deserved, and being Black meant kind of the same thing.

So for a Black woman, it was like being at a double disadvantage, and Ms. Chisholm knew it.

But would she let something like inequality, segregation laws, and sexism stop her from her mission?

Absolutely not!

If anything, this made Ms. Chisholm work even harder to fight for the oppressed because for women, there was still an issue of equal pay for equal work, paid maternity leave, abortion rights, protecting women against domestic abuse, and even being able to get a credit card.

And believe me, the list goes on.

Now, while Ms. Chisholm is working to progress things, other major accomplishments were happening in the country, like in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act, protecting against racial and gender discrimination in the workplace, and in 1965, with the Voting Rights Act, finally giving all Black women the right to vote.

At this point, some people might be feeling like a win is a win, just take what you can get and be thankful.

Not fighting Shirley, she kept on fighting because the fight for justice isn't over until all people are equal.

Now, because she felt the weight of injustice on multiple sides, she had to continue to fight for the people, and in 1972, she decided she was going to run for the president of the United States.

It was pretty much unheard of to have a woman running for president, and on top of that, a Black woman?

With her haters preying on her downfall and her supporters rooting for her, Shirley had to come up with a good campaign slogan to let everyone know what she was about, and her slogan was, "Unbought and unbossed."

You all can't tell me that's not a cold saying.

And it really captured what she was all about from her upbringing with immigrant parents to every obstacle she overcame, that was the perfect title for her.

Now, finding a good slogan is only part of what it takes to become president.

There's a whole bunch of steps involved.

First, you register with the Federal Elections Committee.

- I think I want to run for president.

Let me go tell the government.

- Next, you have to announce your intentions to run.

- Hey, grandma.

No, it's not Dequomonick, it's Cory.

Listen, tell everybody you know that I'm going to run for president.

- [Cory] This is when you start your campaign.

You want to get as much support from the people that believe in your message as you can.

- If you want to see more dancing on "Compact History" in schools, vote for me and continue to donate so I can continue to spread my message.

Whoa!

- Then, we had the primary and caucus process where everyone sees which person they want to represent their party in the elections.

Eventually, each political party will choose one candidate, and that person will campaign and debate on the issues they want to fix all around the country and try and win people's votes.

Finally, we have the presidential elections in November, and then we have our president.

Overall, it's a long and exhausting process and Fighting Shirley was up for the challenge.

She made tremendous progress on her journey to the presidency.

Unfortunately, the country was going through it in a major way with the Civil Rights movement, the draft, and the Vietnam War.

Now, although Ms. Chisholm didn't go further in the process, 1972 did see progress within the feminist movement.

Remember the Equal Rights Amendment I mentioned earlier?

Yep, all these years later, it came back around.

It was passed by the US Senate, which meant the final step was to get it ratified by the state legislatures.

Now, this is the part where I would tell you that the amendment was ratified in no time, but that didn't happen.

Congress gave the states a seven-year deadline to get it done and the deadline passed.

Some of you may be thinking, "Every time we gain an inch, we lose another three.

Why keep trying if it hasn't worked yet?"

And to those friends, I say, do you think that would stop Fighting Shirley?

No, it wouldn't.

We know what she would do.

Keep on fighting, and that's what she did.

Ms. Chisholm continued to fight to make changes for the betterment of all oppressed people until she retired in 1983.

Ms. Chisholm passed away in 2005 and is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

The decades of work and inspiration Ms. Chisholm put into politics will be felt forever.

And she ain't alone.

Countless women are leading the charge all around the world.

Activists like Greta Thunberg, taking on world leaders in the fight for climate change mitigation, or Malala Yousafzai, an activist for women's education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.

Times are changin', you all, and the fight for feminism is far from over.

But if you look at things today, you can see the progress we've made and the legacy Ms. Chisholm has left.

In 2020, America welcomed our first ever woman vice president with Kamala Harris.

She is rocking that purple suit.

Kind of reminds me of another game-changing politician I know of.

And it isn't only on a national level.

We need barrier-breakers on a local political level, like April N.M. Baskin of Western New York, who became the youngest person ever to serve as a legislator in Erie County.

With all this momentum in our youth speaking out more and more, there's no telling where we can go from here.

Maybe hearing about Shirley Chisholm and the women's movement gets you inspired to get involved in local issues, or maybe you already have something in your life that you're standing up for.

My only question to you is when things feel like they're too much to bear or you feel like there's a barrier in your way, are you going to give up or are you going to take a lesson from Fighting Shirley and keep on fighting?

Now, remember, history surrounds you and includes you, so go ahead and make history.

Maybe someday I'll be telling your story right here on "Compact History."

(bright music)