62 pages 2 hours read

Unbought and Unbossed

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1970

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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Getting There”

Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary: “Teaching, Marriage, and the Political Arena”

After leaving the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League in 1958, Shirley Chisholm temporarily stepped away from politics to focus on her educational career and personal life. She advanced professionally, becoming director of the Friend in Need Nursery School in 1953, then moving to the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center in Manhattan in 1954, where she supervised 24 staff members caring for 130 children aged three to seven.


During her college years, Chisholm became engaged to a Jamaican man she met at a jewelry factory job. The relationship faced strong opposition from her mother, who disapproved of his casual dress and demeanor. When Chisholm discovered her fiancé was already married with a family in Jamaica and involved in immigration fraud, the engagement ended abruptly. His subsequent arrest and deportation by immigration authorities devastated her emotionally and physically, leading to severe depression and weight loss that required recovery time at a New Jersey farm.


During this period of healing, Chisholm had already met Conrad Chisholm, a quiet Jamaican investigator whom she initially tried to discourage through hostile behavior. His persistent patience and understanding eventually won her over, and they married in 1949. Conrad worked as a private investigator specializing in insurance fraud cases. He later transitioned to working for the city, investigating Medicaid eligibility at Chisholm’s urging due to safety concerns.

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