Shirley Chisholm Ran for President in 1972. Then She Visited George Wallace in the Hospital.

On January 25, 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm stood in Brooklyn and announced she was running for president.

She was the first Black woman elected to Congress. Now she would be the first Black person to seek a major party's nomination for president—and the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination.

Her slogan said it all: "Unbought and Unbossed."

Chisholm didn't run because she thought she'd win. She ran because she refused to accept that the presidency was reserved for white men. She ran to prove that someone like her—a Black woman, the daughter of immigrants, a fighter for the marginalized—belonged in the race.

Her campaign faced opposition from nearly every direction. She was blocked from televised debates until she took legal action—and even then, she was only allowed to make one speech. The Congressional Black Caucus, largely male, didn't support her. Some feminists hesitated to back her because they didn't think she could succeed.

She ran anyway.

With a shoestring budget and a small team of volunteers, she entered 12 primaries. She walked picket lines with striking workers in Miami, speaking to them in fluent Spanish. She challenged George Wallace. She called for an end to the Vietnam War and championed full employment, racial justice, and economic opportunity for the poor.

During the campaign, Wallace was shot and paralyzed. Chisholm did something that shocked her supporters: she visited him in the hospital. People couldn't understand why she would show compassion to a man who had built his career on segregation and racism.

She said simply, "I wouldn't want what happened to him to happen to anyone."

That visit proved what "unbought and unbossed" really meant. She wouldn't be controlled by political strategy or public opinion. She would act on her principles—even when it cost her.

Wallace never forgot it. Years later, he helped her secure crucial votes from Southern Congressmen for landmark legislation that gave domestic workers the right to a minimum wage.

By the time the Democratic National Convention arrived in July, she had won 152 delegates—10% of the total.

She didn't get the nomination. But she changed what was possible.

"I want to be remembered as a woman who dared to be a catalyst of change," she said.

Shirley Chisholm opened the door. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton walked through it decades later.

And the fight she fought—for representation, for access, for a government that works for everyone—is still the fight we're in today.

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