Photo Credits: Kannille Washington ‘28
Kannille Washington ’28
Staff Writer
As doors at Mount Holyoke College often seem to be when you need them most, the entrance to Dwight Hall was locked on the evening of Nov. 22. However, entry was well worth the wait: the building’s event of the night was a celebration of Shirley Chisholm's 100th Birthday, with a post-dinner screening of the 2024 biopic “Shirley.”
Chisholm, born on Nov. 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York, was the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress and the first Black woman to run for a party nomination for president. She was a visiting lecturer and later, professor of anthropology and sociology at the College. Her legacy endures on campus today, with the Shirley Chisholm Living Learning Community named after her.
The film opens on Chisholm, played by Regina King, finishing up a strawberry milkshake before taking a group photo with the rest of Congress. In the picture she is centered, and the only Black woman. Throughout the first few minutes, we see the barriers Shirley faced in her everyday life, such as her sister's disapproval and the racism she experienced as a member of Congress.
In a pivotal point in the movie, Shirley is visited by close acquaintances, Wesley “Mac” Holder, played by Lance Reddick, and Arthur Hardwick, played by Terrance Howard. They inform her that a group of women had raised $10,000 to put her name on the presidential ballot in Florida. Despite how difficult they tell her it will be to form a campaign, she decides to attempt a run for president on the Democratic ticket.
She enlists the support of Columbia University law student Robert Gottlieb, played by Lucas Hedges, to be her national student coordinator. Holder and Hardwick employ Stanley Townsend, played by Brian Stokes Mitchell, as their campaign manager. Christina Jackson plays Barbara Lee, an ambitious young woman who works part time on Shirley’s campaign.
Along the way, their campaign faces many challenges, including a lack of funding, an assassination attempt and a legal case against major television networks like CBS and NBC. Though Chisholm did not win the election, her legacy lives on in the determination she showed throughout her run.
Junie Blaise ’28 remarked, “It was kinda great seeing this movie and how a schoolteacher from Brooklyn made it all the way up to Congress and ran for president.” To that point, Quétia Murphy ’27 stated, “As Black women, we have the ability to do anything that we put our minds to and to never give up”.
Leah Dutcher ’28 contributed fact-checking.