Unbought and Unbossed

“That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black, and a woman proves, I would think, that our society is not yet either just or free.”

The phrase “I would think” introduces an understated irony, positioning her condemnation as measured rather than accusatory. Chisholm’s deliberate choice to describe herself as “black, and a woman” rather than using more formal terminology reflects her direct, unpretentious communication style while emphasizing the intersectional nature of her identity. The temporal reference to “192 years” quantifies the extent of systemic exclusion, making the abstract concept of discrimination concrete and historically grounded. This quote establishes Chisholm’s central argument that her very existence as a novelty in Congress exposes fundamental flaws in American democratic ideals, connecting her personal experience to broader questions about equity and representation that inform the entire book.

“Immigrants from the South were streaming to Brooklyn for jobs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Long Island aircraft plants, and other growing defense industries. No one knew it then, but the present-day ‘inner city’ (to use a white euphemism) was being created. Black workers had to crowd into neighborhoods that were already black or partly so, because they could not find homes anywhere else. Buildings that had four apartments suddenly had eight, and bathrooms that had been private were shared. White building inspectors winked at housing code violations and illegal rates of occupancy, white landlords doubled and trebled their incomes on slum buildings, and the white neighborhoods in other parts of town and in the suburbs stayed white. Today’s urban ghettos were being born.”

Chisholm uses historical retrospection to expose the systemic nature of racial discrimination in housing and urban development. The parenthetical phrase “to use a white euphemism” reveals her awareness of how language can obscure harsh realities. The metaphor of ghettos “being born” suggests that these conditions were not natural developments but deliberate consequences of discriminatory policies and practices. The parallel structure contrasting Black overcrowding with white suburban exclusion emphasizes the intentional nature of segregation. This passage establishes Chisholm’s understanding that systemic racism requires active resistance and reform, laying the groundwork for her later political activism and commitment to