SATURDAY RUBRICS: 7/27/24
BLACK FEMALE POLITICAL HEROES
STARS IN BLACK TURTLENECKS: Shirley Chisholm and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The photograph above of Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, the first African American woman to serve in Congress when she was elected in 1968, is by Irving Penn. She sat for this portrait for Vogue in 1969. Three years later she would run for the Democratic nomination to be the president of the United States. This is a bit of a fudge regarding a black turtleneck but it is such a fabulous one that I went with it. Let’s just believe that under that collar is a black turtleneck that matches it. Let’s believe, moreover, it is possible that she is indeed wearing one in this photo because she challenged us over half a century ago to believe it was not only possible for a woman to be president but a Black woman. Regina King portrays her brilliantly in the Netflix film, Shirley, written and directed by John Ridley. Like all politicians, she portrayed herself even more so. Check out the film if you haven’t seen it. Or read her autobiography, Unbought and Unbossed.
Above is the issue of Vogue in which Chisholm appeared. The cover too was shot by Irving Penn. Inside Pat Nixon was photographed by Horst. Penn also photographed Mia Farrow for the issue. Other women featured were, among others, Amanda Burden, Linda McCartney, Jane Jacobs, Brooke Astor, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Goldie Hawn, Leigh Taylor-Young, Mary Steichen Calderone, and Lauren Hutton. Three other Black women highlighted were Coretta Scott King, Elma Lewis, and Mildred Mitchell-Bateman. Margaret Mead wrote an essay for the issue titled “Where American Women Are Now.”
We don’t have to squint and imagine anything in the above photo. Yes, Vice President Harris is wearing a black turtleneck but we can fully see, and clearly, that she could - and can and will be, believe it - the next president of the United States. This is where American women are now.
Chisholm:
“My God, what do we want? What does any human being want? Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else. All we want is for that trivial difference to make no difference. What can I say to a man who asks that? All I can do is try to explain to him why he asks the question. You have looked at us for years as different from you that you may never see us really. You don’t understand because you think of us as second-class humans. We have been passive and accommodating through so many years of your insults and delays that you think the way things used to be is normal. When the good-natured, spiritual-singing boys and girls rise up against the white man and demand to be treated like he is, you are bewildered. All we want is what you want, no less and no more. ..
“I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud; I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman and I am equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people of America. And my presence before you now symbolizes a new era in American political history.
“Be as bold as the first man - or woman - to eat an oyster.”
[TO SEE AND READ ABOUT THE REMAINING RUBRICS, PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING OUR PAID SUBSCRIBER COMMUNITY FOR ONLY $5 A MONTH OR $50 A YEAR. THANK YOU.]