Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women's Activism

Shirley Chisholm as a BC student

Founder and Project Director Emeritus Barbara Winslow with 'Chisholm '72' filmmaker Shola Lynch

Donna Brazile [left], keynote speaker for Chisholm Day 2010

NYS Assembly Member Rodneyes Bichotte, Safiya Bandele, Director Women's Center Medgar Evers College and Karen Odate, Medgar Evers College at Chisholm Day 2010

Chisholm Day 2011 keynote speaker Anita Hill [right] stands with NYS Assembly Member N. Nick Perry

Loretta Ross, keynote speaker for Chisholm Day 2012

Loretta Ross [right] being interviewed by a student

Ms. Harriet Smitth [center], longtime friend of Shirley Chisholm viewing the Chisholm Display in the Brooklyn College Library

Shirley Chisholm [center right], Harriet Smith [center left] assembled with the other members of IPOTHIA, the sorority they established in defiance of racial exclusion at Brooklyn College

Karen Lewis [left], keynote speaker for Chisholm Day 2013 greets NYC Council Member Jumaane Williams

Karen Lewis [center] stands with Professor Zinga Fraser [next right] and other guests

Dr. Sherrie Randolph, Chisholm Day 2016 keynote speaker

Dr. Zinga Fraser, Chisholm Project Director featured 'Positively Black' on WNBC (2016)

Chisholm Project Director Zinga Fraser speaks to BBC News about Chisholm's political impact in the BC Library

Shirley Chisholm [center] speaks to students in her Congressional office

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, circa 1972

Chisholm speaking to student visitors before Capitol Hill

Mission

In the spirit of Chisholm's legacy as a path-breaking community and political activist, the archive follows the many paths she pioneered by including materials representing the wide range of women's grassroots activism throughout the borough.

The archive consists of documents and other materials, including oral histories from people who knew or worked with Chisholm and from the extraordinary diversity of women's activist organizations in Brooklyn since 1945. Housed in the Brooklyn College Library, it is a resource for students of all ages, community activists, public policy experts, scholars, and the general public. The archive will expand our understanding of women's place in history and of the significance and consequence of social activism itself.

In addition to creating a vibrant historical archive, the project is actively engaged in maintaining the political legacy of Shirley Chisholm in New York City, the nation and around the globe.