Shirley Chisholm Day Celebration Unveils New Archive Website

From left: Erin Vilardi of the White House Project, Professor Barbara Winslow and Darline Mealy, City Councilwoman, 41st district

At a standing-room–only event to celebrate Shirley Chisholm Day in the Woody Tanger Auditorium, Associate Professor of Education Barbara Winslow unveiled the new website of the Shirley Chisholm Archive. Long in the making, the archive was a welcome step in keeping the Chisholm legacy alive.

Winslow, who also teaches in the Women’s Studies Program and is the director of the Shirley Chisholm Project, invited Marie Wilson, founder and director of The White House Project to empower women in politics, and Robert Gottleib, Chisholm’s first intern, to the event. Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham and Congresswoman Yvette Clark also addressed the audience and spoke about Chisholm’s groundbreaking role in American politics.

Gottleib, who took a leave from school to travel with Chisholm across the country during her 1972 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, gave an emotional account about the challenges the New York congresswoman encountered during her career. He pointed out that, although things have changed dramatically since then, women running for office today still face challenges.

Wilson, formerly a president of the Ms. Foundation for Women who has been an advocate of women’s issues for 30 years, capped the event with a speech during which she explained the connection between Chisholm’s legacy and The White House Project.

"Only 17 percent of members in both houses of Congress are women," she said, pointing out that women generally vote in larger numbers than men yet don’t get enough political representation. "I’d like to see in Congress a group of women who look more like the America we know," she added, "with a diversity that I see in Brooklyn College."

Last September, the college and The White House Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, announced a partnership whereby The White House Project will conduct Go Lead training, a unique daylong event on campus designed to inspire young women to enter the world of politics by teaching them innovative skills and strategies they will need to run for office.

"Women need to learn how to support one another to make ourselves more visible in politics. But we need to understand that running for office is not the only way to do it," Wilson added.

"We now have 63 Brooklyn College alumnae, students, faculty and administrators signed up for the training," Winslow announced during the luncheon following the celebration. She also introduced the 2011 Chisholm Scholar, Tatiana Benjamin, who was awarded a scholarship to work as an intern in Albany.

"I am planning to go to law school to get a good foundation so that I can continue to be involved in politics," said Benjamin, an English major with a minor in political science who is part of the college’s student government and has interned for New York State Senator John Sampson, the chairman of the judiciary committee.

"Shirley Chisholm has been an icon for women at Brooklyn College over the decades, not only because of her accomplishments in the political arena but also because of her pride, her daring and her courage to organize women’s interests and voice their concerns at every level, from the grassroots to the corridors of power," stated President Karen L. Gould via message.

The Go Lead training workshop will be held on January 8, 2010.