I recently attended a lecture at Birkbeck College, London, called Why History Matters. There were all sorts of reasons flying about, but for me - who ten years ago had little regard for history (probably because of the biased and irrelevant way it was taught at school) - the greatest of them all is to make sense of today's world.
Having been starved of African and Caribbean history (unless it was to do with victims - read slavery), now there is little better than discovering a historical figure who changed things, who changed the way people think and paved the way for those who are trying to make a difference today.
And so it is that one Barack Obama - who is making unprecedented footsteps towards the White House - is applauded as the first African American to make it as the presidential nominee of either major political party in the US.
But for that he must thank in part an amazing pioneer called Shirley Chisholm. Who? Exactly. Not only was she the first African woman to be elected to Congress in 1968. She was also the first woman and the first African American woman to run for the presidency in 1972. No, Hillary cannot claim that crown.
A powerful orator and a force in action, Chisholm entered the Congress campaign with little cash and the slogan Unbought and Unbossed - alluding to her independent thinking. She shook up the system from within - questioning the assumed power of the few at the top and bringing the focus back to the people, particularly the poor.
When she ran for the Democratic nomination she made it clear that she wasn't the candidate of African Americans or for women, or of political bosses or special interests, but of the people.
She carried the Unbought and Unbossed slogan into the 1972 presidential campaign during which she said: "Of my two 'handicaps', being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black."
Chisholm was a fearless history maker. If only I had learned this at school.
Having been starved of African and Caribbean history (unless it was to do with victims - read slavery), now there is little better than discovering a historical figure who changed things, who changed the way people think and paved the way for those who are trying to make a difference today.
And so it is that one Barack Obama - who is making unprecedented footsteps towards the White House - is applauded as the first African American to make it as the presidential nominee of either major political party in the US.
But for that he must thank in part an amazing pioneer called Shirley Chisholm. Who? Exactly. Not only was she the first African woman to be elected to Congress in 1968. She was also the first woman and the first African American woman to run for the presidency in 1972. No, Hillary cannot claim that crown.
A powerful orator and a force in action, Chisholm entered the Congress campaign with little cash and the slogan Unbought and Unbossed - alluding to her independent thinking. She shook up the system from within - questioning the assumed power of the few at the top and bringing the focus back to the people, particularly the poor.
When she ran for the Democratic nomination she made it clear that she wasn't the candidate of African Americans or for women, or of political bosses or special interests, but of the people.
She carried the Unbought and Unbossed slogan into the 1972 presidential campaign during which she said: "Of my two 'handicaps', being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black."
Chisholm was a fearless history maker. If only I had learned this at school.
