"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas."
"... all Americans are the prisoners of racial prejudice."
Source: Shirley Chisholm (2010). “Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition”, p.151, Take Root Media
About the author
Shirley Chisholm
Politician, Educator
Shirley Chisholm was a pioneering politician and the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, known for her advocacy for social justice and equality.
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"When I die, I want to be remembered as a woman who lived in the twentieth century and who dared to be a catalyst of change. I don't want to be remembered as the first black woman who went to Congress. And I don't even want to be remembered as the first woman who happened to be black to make a bid for the Presidency I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the twentieth century. That's what I want."
"Don't list to those who say YOU CAN'T. Listen to the voice inside yourself that says, I CAN."
"Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth."
"In the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism."
"I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo."