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Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics
by Anastasia C. Curwood
Shaking up New York and national politics by becoming the first African American congresswoman and, later, the first Black major-party presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an "unbought and unbossed" firebrand and a leader in politics for meaningful change.
Chisholm spent her formative years moving between Barbados and Brooklyn, and the development of her political orientation did not follow the standard narratives of the civil rights or feminist establishments. Rather, Chisholm arrived at her Black feminism on her own path, making signature contributions to U.S. politics as an inventor and practitioner of Black feminist power—the vantage point centering Black girls and women in the movement that sought to transform political power into a broadly democratic force.
Anastasia C. Curwood interweaves Chisholm's public image, political commitments, and private experiences to create a definitive account of a consequential life. In so doing, Curwood suggests new truths for understanding the social movements of Chisholm's time and the opportunities she forged for herself through multicultural, multigenerational, and cross-gender coalition building.
"A well-rounded portrait of the late politician, who, half a century ago, helped set the tone for contemporary Black and feminist politics...Curwood deftly reveals Chisholm's complexities and sometimes secretive nature as well as her tenacity in political struggles...A model political biography that all modern activists should read." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A vivid biographical assessment of a remarkable woman, Shirley Chisholm reminds us of Chisholm's legacy & makes her absence on the current political scene seem even more profound." - Foreword Reviews (starred review)
"Accessible and enlightening, this is a well-rounded portrait of a pioneering politician." - Publishers Weekly
"Strongly recommended for social science students and public collections where similar titles circulate well." - Library Journal
"This brilliant, definitive biography of Shirley Chisholm establishes her as the quintessential architect of Black feminist politics in the twentieth century. Anastasia Curwood meticulously traces the origins and complexities of Chisholm's political career, her pioneering involvement in the Black freedom struggle, and her essential role in the contemporary women's movement. Chisholm emerges in Curwood's extraordinary portrait as a model of radical, intersectional, antiracist feminist activism. Thanks to this book, Chisholm's unparalleled legacy is now secure." - Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Spelman College
This information about Shirley Chisholm was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Anastasia C. Curwood is associate professor of history and director of African American and Africana studies at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars.
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