© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Shirley Chisholm, First Black Female Representative, Dies

NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates remembers the life of Shirley Chisholm, who became the first-ever African-American woman to serve in Congress. She served seven terms as a Democrat in the House of Representatives, and was a vocal advocate for the rights of minorities and women. Chisholm died on New Year's Day in Daytona Beach, Fla., at the age of 80.

Copyright 2005 NPR

Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
Related Stories