| Welcome to the first edition of About US and thank you for joining this new conversation. Each Friday we will bring you stories, data and images that we hope will encourage you to think and talk about how we see ourselves and how we see each other in a rapidly changing America. This week, we look at Shirley Chisholm, who was elected to Congress 50 years ago and continues to inspire women in politics today. We also delve into a troubling and unpleasant reminder from our past: the “Green Book,” a travel guide used by African Americans to avoid trouble in the Jim Crow era, and how that concern has returned in recent years. And we visit fellow Americans around the country via a Washington Post photo project called “What Unites Us.” We want you to be a part of About US, so please send us your thoughts and suggestions at aboutus@washpost.com. Let’s get started!
'Unbought and unbossed': Shirley Chisholm's feminist mantra is still relevant 50 years later Shirley Chisholm’s signature campaign slogan, “Unbought and unbossed,” was as much a statement about who she was as it was a catchy and effective message that helped her become the first black woman elected to Congress. Chisholm had the audacity, and the political talent, to run for a newly drawn New York congressional seat in 1968 without the backing of the Brooklyn Democratic Party bosses. She described herself as “the people’s politician,” fighting for higher wages for working people and more money for public education and demanding respect for black Americans and women. When she got to Capitol Hill, she challenged institutional customs, pushing her way into spaces that had been the reserve of white men, making friends and enemies on both sides of the aisle by following her own political playbook. I thought about Shirley Chisholm a few weeks ago when Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes, in which she praised the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements against sexual harassment and assault, incited speculation in the news media and on social media about whether she would run for president. In an interview in the March issue of InStyle magazine, Winfrey said she is not interested in being on the ballot in 2020. "I don't have the DNA for it," she said. Chisholm, again without anyone’s permission or support, ran for president in 1972, the first black American to seek a major party presidential nomination. Her candidacy generated nowhere near the excitement or sense of possibility that animated the debate about a Winfrey run for the White House, but Chisholm was undaunted, waging a passionate and earnest campaign promising to combat poverty and discrimination, protect the environment and unite a country fractured by urban unrest and the Vietnam War. Fifty years after Chisholm was elected to Congress, the country is wrestling with some of the same social and political issues – racial tensions, women’s equality, disillusionment with Washington. And those stepping up to take on these challenges bear a striking resemblance to Chisholm – women, especially women of color, speaking up about sexual abuse, taking to the streets to protest President Trump’s views and policies, and running for office in record numbers, most without the blessing or help of the political establishment. Unbought and unbossed.
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Shirley Chisholm addresses a crowd on the steps of the Jackson County court house in Florida, in 1972, during her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. (AP) Several women’s names have been mentioned as possible presidential candidates in 2020 and a record number of women could follow Chisholm’s example and become members of Congress after this year's midterm elections. As of this month, 439 women have filed or expressed interest in running for Congress – nearly twice the number of women in the same position as two years ago, according to the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics. Chisholm’s persona – an independent, outspoken, advocate for marginalized groups and liberal causes – often put her at odds with an establishment that wasn’t used to interacting with black people and women as peers. One of Chisholm’s more notorious standoffs involved her protesting her assignment to the Agricultural Committee when she first arrived in Congress. The House Speaker at the time, Rep. John McCormack (D-Mass.) reminded her that as a freshman she should just be a "good soldier." Chisholm instead raised her complaint on the House floor and she was reassigned to the Veteran Affairs Committee. She acknowledged her victory by noting, “There are a lot more veterans in my district than trees." She both embraced and pushed back against efforts to label her. In her speech announcing her presidential campaign she declared: “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.”
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California Democrats Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Maxine Waters and other female members of Congress attend the unveiling of the portrait of Shirley Chisholm in 2009. (AP) Her forceful confrontation of those who would try to constrain her because of her race and gender is what has made her political identity a template for a new generation of black women running for office. "Unbought and unbossed" is the perfect mantra for the intersectional feminist. Glynda Carr is co-founder of Higher Heights for America, an organization that recruits and trains black women to run for office and provides them with campaign support. Chisholm is the spiritual godmother of the organization; her image and quotes frequently appear on Higher Heights’ web site and in its social media campaigns. “What I love about her life and her legacy is she is the embodiment of the idea that every person, particularly every black woman, has a role to play,” Carr said. She cited another Chisholm quote, a call to action for people who are unhappy with what they see around them: “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
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Concern among all women over sexual harassment in the workplace has gone up since the issue exploded in October, when dozens of women alleged they were sexually harassed or assaulted by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. But women of color are more likely than white women to say workplace sexual harassment is a “serious problem” in the United States – 86 percent vs. 72 percent, according to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. Encouraged by news coverage and the #MeToo campaign on social media, more women have come forward, resulting in the resignations of several high-profile men in entertainment, the news media and politics. In The Post-ABC poll, majorities of both nonwhite and white women expressed optimism that attention to the issue will create lasting change in the way society deals with harassment of women. — Scott Clement, Polling Director
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Traveling while black: Why some Americans are afraid to explore their own country
(Ashleigh Joplin/The Post) Her mom always smiled — except when the family made its annual summer drive to visit the grandparents in Magnolia, Ark. “The smiles were gone while we were traveling,” said Gloria Gardner, 77. It was the 1940s, and traveling to her parents’ home town was not approached lightly after the family moved to Muskegon, Mich., during the Great Migration. Stopping for food or bathroom breaks was mostly out of the question. For black families, preparing for a road trip required a well-tested battle plan in which nothing could be left to chance. There were meals to cook and pack in ice. Sheets were folded and stacked in the car to use as partitions if they were left with no choice but to take bathroom breaks roadside. And there was another item that Gardner recalls her parents never forgot to pack: the Negro Motorist Green Book. While her dad drove, her mother leafed through the pages to see whether there were any restaurants, gas stations or restrooms on their route where they wouldn’t be hassled or in danger. “When it was time to stop, you had to know where to stop,” said Gardner, who now lives in Rockville, Md. “If you stopped at the wrong place, you might not leave.”
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Gloria Gardner stands in her Rockville, Md., home, where she keeps her parents' 1940 edition of the Green Book. (Marvin Joseph/The Post) As she looked through a copy of her father’s 1940 edition of the guide, she recalled its importance: “Our Green Book was our survival tool.” The Negro Motorist Green Book was created in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green, a postal worker in the Harlem neighborhood in New York, to direct black travelers to restaurants, gas stations, hotels, pharmacies and other establishments that were known havens. It was updated and republished annually for more than 30 years, with the last edition printed in 1967. Candacy Taylor, a writer who has catalogued sites in the Green Book that still exist, said Green distributed the guide through postal workers and traveling salesmen. Copies were also sold at Esso gas stations and, starting in the 1940s, through subscriptions. Jim Crow segregation laws varied by county and state, so black motorists didn’t have the freedom to play anything by ear — food, gas and lodging would probably be off limits during stretches of their journeys. Black travelers risked more than the humiliation of being turned away at restaurants or service stations; they often encountered harassment or physical danger if they inadvertently stopped in the wrong town.
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The Green Book was an annual guide released during the Jim Crow era to inform black motorists which restaurants, gas stations, restrooms, and other establishments were safe-haven stops along their route. (Marvin Joseph/The Post) James Loewen, author of “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism,” said he has been astounded by his research on the prevalence of sundown towns, all-white communities where unofficial rules forbade black Americans after dark. In some cases, signs posted at the cities’ entrances warned black out-of-towners, “N-----, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On You.”
“I don’t think this is a case of black paranoia for a minute,” he said. Loewen estimates that the nation had no fewer than 10,000 locales with these rules. In particular, black drivers in the North had to be on high alert. Sundown towns were a Northern phenomenon, said Loewen, who continues to locate municipalities with such histories. “In Illinois, I’m up to 507. In Mississippi, I’m at three,” he said.
(Rhonda Colvin, Malcolm Cook, Ashleigh Joplin, Osman Malik, Jorge Ribas, Victoria Walker, Taylor Turner, Sam Ward/The Post)
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Washington Post photographers spent the past year traveling across the country and asking people what it means to be an American. Respect for diversity was among the most common values cited. The “What Unites Us” project found that diversity of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, culture and worldview is at the core of what defines the United States as a nation for many people. Our distinctive identities – and the freedom to express them – are what make Americans feel American. The Post did 102 interviews – two in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. A few responses from people are below. Check out the full What Unites Us project to explore the other themes that emerged from conversations around the country about what it means to be an American.
(Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Sunny Hegwood, 34, of Woodward, Okla. "For me as a Comanche woman – and I hate to generalize to all indigenous communities – but I think you might find among many indigenous people that a sense of place and connection to the land is very important. This is our homeland – and what is now America is indigenous nations', sovereign nations' homeland – it is interconnected for us with our cultures, with our languages, with our identity. And I think that unites us as indigenous nations, but also as Americans. It's very interconnected, the sense of home. It's a part of our identity."
(Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) Kevin Hollatz, 52, of Bismarck, N.D. "From the beginning, we had a belief in the Judeo-Christian god. And that’s what everything stemmed from. And that’s where we have our laws is basically from that. And if you say that’s not true, I don’t think you’re living in a reality. Now, I see certain things get exaggerated and overblown, and we take it to the extreme and we’re not willing to admit that maybe we were wrong on certain things. ... I love reading different worldviews, different religion worldviews. And I think it's given me a greater appreciation that we get too caught up in that, 'my worldview is correct.'”
(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Rocio Martínez Lopez, 28, of Seattle, Wash. "I expect my son to be president. I expect him to understand policy and how when you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And to always advocate for your community. … We've come to an era where your whole being is a personal statement. Your core existence is a personal statement. So for me, to put that in my son that he is a political statement. He is the child of immigrants, he was born here and I'm doing everything I can to give him the resources and to push him to continue to do better than I do. To be able to sit in a position of power where he can make decisions that will better our community."
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