ContextJanuary 3, 1983
Shirley Chisholm Retires from Congress After Seven Terms
Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black candidate to seek a major party presidential nomination (1972), retires from the House of Representatives after seven terms representing Brooklyn's 12th Congressional District. Her retirement reduces Black women's representation in a Congress that at the time contains only a handful of Black women members.