ny-12

On this day, US election day a half a century ago, not only did Richard Nixon defeat incumbent Democratic vice president and presidential contenders Hubert Humphrey and George C Wallace, Shirley Anita Chisholm (*1924 – †2005)—as depicted here by illustrator and regular contributor to the New Yorker, Kadir Nelson, commissioned in 2008 by the US House of Representatives to posthumously create her official portrait—became the first black woman elected to congress. Serving her constituency in Brooklyn and Queens for seven terms from 1969 to 1983, Chisholm also campaigned for president herself in 1972.