How Shirley Chisholm & Fannie Lou Hamer Paved the Way for Kamala Harris

Support our work: democracynow.o...
Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent in the United States to be nominated to lead a major party's presidential ticket. We speak with historian Barbara Ransby about two Black women pioneers who helped pave the way for her historic nomination: former Congressmember Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1972, and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who led the fight to desegregate the party's Southern delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: democracynow.o...

[@ShizukaRose]

Fannie Lou Hamer is a legend.

[@bo2.4u6]

YES SHE IS!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@damali-karlawhittaker6462]

Fanny Lou Hamer is the 1st crack in the glass ceiling, 2nd Shirley Chisholm.

[@bazs2855]

I have so much ❤ for Fannie Lou Hamer. ✊🏼

[@Jojojojoxyz]

My dad , a conservative, white democrat, WW2 prisoner of war, believed S. Chisholm should be president.

[@femmanagh7247]

The way she spoke and the message she gave was one of a kind. We need candidates like her for our country.

[@douglasexum87]

...and Fannie Lou wasn't afraid of much, but she certainly wasn't afraid of the press..

[@VoodooDangerbird]

Fannie Lou Hamer would’ve spoke about the Palestinians at the convention this year.

[@prometheus200]

Yeah, she would have been outside tht convention with the protesters.

[@prometheus200]

They may have paved the way for Kamala but it’s sad that Kamala ain’t walking into this inheritance with the convictions and soul that Mrs Chisholm and Mama Fannie had.

[@elishahthompson4334]

Shouldn’t even be in the same sentence….

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@workmcb3838]

there is not s democrat today the can even come close to Shirley, simply the best.

[@kellywright5282]

yes, they are all homosexual criminals now

[@phoenixr6811]

They did plant the seed 🥰Trail Blazers at their finest 🙂

[@douglasexum87]

Allow me to paraphrase greta thunberg... How effing dare you! Fannie Lou Hamer is a HERO

[@rhondab9792]

Kamala does not deserve to be in the same paragraph as those women.

[@joylynne8]

Agree!

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@crackthefoundation_]

These should not be in the same sentence. This is a ludicrous comparison, beyond measure. Shame.

[@1PrinceWilliam]

Thank you!

[@janeruthraphael4644]

What happened to Amy lately? Maybe she was threatened

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@GoodSince85]

Do not compare her to Fannie Lou Hammer. They aren't the same, smh.

[@Mr626667]

I approve this message

[@davidowens1424]

Courage, conviction, authenticity, sacrifice. Nope, Harris doesn't have any of these qualities.

[@milesmorales2106]

Right! Those two paved the way for Claudia De La Cruz

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@GoodSince85]

@@milesmorales2106 that part!

[@robertskolimowski7049]

Amazing interview👏🕊✌️🙏

[@andreabrown4541]

I wouldn't consider VP Harris a Fannie Lou Hamer or a Shirley Chisholm based on their political ideologies. Making this comparison is a gross distortion of African American history. We don't all look alike. Below is a list of black women who have run for president: Charlene Mitchell, 1968, Communist Party Margaret Wright, 1976, People's Party Isabell Masters, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004 Lenora Fulani, 1988 Monica Moorehead, 1996, 2000, 2016 Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, 2000, Republican Party Carol Moseley-Braun, 2004, Democratic Party (VP Harris is more like Moseley-Braun, who, like Obama, was a pragmatist who ideologically were progressive and centrist depending on where the wind blew within the Democratic Party) Cynthia McKinney, 2008, Green Party Peta Lindsay, 2012, Socialist Party And Gloria Steinem and Catherine Price, there were black women who had the same oratory skills of a MLK, and one of those black women was Shirley Chisholm (see "Women are Never Front-Runners," NYT, and "Gloria Steinem on Barack Obama," Salon, 1/8/2008).

[@Glamoorus]

I wouldn't consider Kamala Emhoff comparatively to either seeing that she is an elite Brahman Indian whose father never identified as Black and has yet to give her a Negroid card. The "Black" aka African-American legacy she's trying to align her self with is a creation of the U.S. "Negroid" would be a racial grouping of which Kamala doesn't meet the requirements. Her mother and father say they descend from Caucasoids.

[@Monticlaus]

Fannie, Shirley and Kamala . . .impressive all, through times, means and accomplishments so individual and distinct, that this attempt to discuss them as one ball of wax somehow, totally misses the mark.

[@octaviagreene4698]

I'm in my 7th decade. I had the immense pleasure to work on Mrs Chisholm's campaign in college, I had the joy to meet her. Maynard Jackson was one of the black politicians in Atlanta who came out for her from the beginning. Hosea Williams also played a major role at that time. Memories.

[@justetv0505]

If they could see what they paved??? They'd throw up!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TanyaLake-e6n]

*"Who was* the *first human woman* on *Earth?"* - "Otherwise *known* as *Mitochondrial Eve,* an *East African woman who walked the Earth* at an estimated *200,000 years ago* to whom *all of humanity traces back."* - *Google search.*

[@doncahooti]

@@TanyaLake-e6n - bet she didn't have a mouth like yours.

[@paulantonio740]

Comparing Shirley Chisholm to Kamala Harris is like comparing Belva Davis to Joy Reid.

[@timmoore3188]

I remember Chisholm running for president. I am trying to think of an equivalent today. The mainstream reaction to her was like if Linda Sarsour was running for president today.

[@bobcosmic]

Shared to Elon’s X

[@AdrianWheeler-xm9ml]

there are always jewels from the past that must be refined & treasured

[@denisemariefugo5126]

The UnDemocratic Party continues on…

[@WhoIsWhatIDK]

it’s insulting to these women to compare them to Harris.

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@2Pakistan7]

✊🏽💚🔥

[@IttyBitty-dq5jw]

LOL.... total bull shit!

[@GenXDesigns]

Shirley Chisolm was caribbean american

[@Glamoorus]

Thank you! We Black Americans aka African-Americans aka Black people don't claim her. Many of her feminist views did not align with Black people.

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

​@@Glamoorus🎯

[@Glamoorus]

@@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival I had to let it be known. There are too many foreigners being mistaken for Black Americans, including Kamala Harris.

[@SarahDeshay]

Comparing Harris to these women is an insult and a racist act. If you wish to find a woman of character today with the again racist parameter of color, who compares to these legends I would think Marian Wright Edelman compares more so than anyone else.

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@damali-karlawhittaker6462]

🎉🎉🎉

[@1PrinceWilliam]

I don’t want to downplay Mr. Sharpton’s roots, nor do I want to acquiesce to the mainstream media’s crowning of him as the unofficial voice of black America, but for him to liken Harris and her record to that of the great Ms. Chisholm feels unbelievably inappropriate. It’s very tiresome to see the way mainstream media and mainstream politics, vis-à-vis RNC and DNC, pander to black and brown voices. It’s more tiring to see us continually fall for the banana in the tailpipe…

[@spotted_salamander]

Fannie Lou Hamer, a descendant of Native American Free(d)men from Mississippi.❤

[@MahmutAyabakan]

Garcia Betty Jackson Shirley Jackson Anthony

[@Glamoorus]

0:32 Shirley Chisholm was NOT the 1st African-American anything. She was CARIBBEAN and her feminist views did not align with Black women.

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯

[@elsastark2351]

11:26 Kamala?

[@HabilUddine-u4i]

Allen Jessica Lopez Kimberly Lee Mary

[@user-vv7xo5jr5m]

Jones Edward Hall Paul Johnson Mark

[@MuratDagcan]

Thompson William Brown David Martinez Jeffrey

[@GenXDesigns]

Shirley Chisolm??? Over rated much

[@reggiebrown4911]

Your ignorance is showing

[@GenXDesigns]

@@reggiebrown4911 not by a long shot. I read excerpts of her writing, and she ddnt have a clue. It must be clear to you by now, we OVER pan African ideology and unity via melanin. The jig is up! Game over.

[@EWRIGHT637]

Its lowkey disrespectful to compare Harris to either of these Strong Black Women politicians/activist

[@BLACKWomeninMUSICFestival]

🎯