Sharing the Legacy of Shirley Chisholm on Stage

In celebration of Black History Month, Bay Street Theater will present two performances of “Unbossed & Unbowed,” a one-woman play written and performed by Ingrid Griffith about the life of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to run for president of the United States. The show will have two performances at Bay Street, one for a school audience on Friday, February 17, and a public performance on Sunday, February 19, at 2 p.m.

In 1968, Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. In 1972, she made history as the first African American candidate to run for president of the United States. She was also the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, and in June of that year, became the first female to appear in a United States presidential debate.

“Unbossed & Unbowed” is an immersive and interactive solo show about Chisholm, the daughter of Caribbean parents who, in the 1960s and 1970s, was on a mission. Called the “Black Joan of Arc,” she referred to herself “Fighting Shirley” and faced off against the political machine in the name of justice.

In spite of her fighting spirit, Chisholm never really gained the traction needed to succeed in her bid for the highest office in the land. The Democratic political establishment largely ignored her while her Black male colleagues did little to support her, feeling, as many did, that she was trying to jump the line on the road to higher office. Even feminists who should have been united behind her were divided on Chisholm’s candidacy and in the end, Chisholm garnered only 152 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention in 1972 and George McGovern became the party’s nominee.

But still, she was a political powerhouse, and as a founding member of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Women’s Caucus, she paved the way for those who did succeed in reaching higher office in the decades that followed, including President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris.

In an interview with the Express News Group in March 2021, Griffith, who has a home in East Hampton, talked about “Unbossed & Unbowed” and explained how she came to write and perform in the play.

“I’m drawn to tell stories about the immigrant experience, about being an outsider and daring to be one’s self,” explained Griffith who, like Chisholm, was raised in New York City and spent large portions of her childhood in the Caribbean. “I’m interested in social norms and cultural barriers that keep girls and women down, and in stories that promote and celebrate girls’ and women’s empowerment.”

For Chisholm, her Caribbean home was Barbados where she and her siblings were sent to live with their maternal grandmother as young children so their parents could work more in New York. When Chisholm returned to Brooklyn at age 10, she spoke with a West Indian accent that would remain with her the rest of her life.

The name of Griffith’s play is taken from Chisholm’s slogan in Congress — “Unbought and Unbossed” — and she finds Chisholm to be an inspiration, not only because of her political ambitions, but also because of the fact that Chisholm’s background mirrors her own.

For Griffith, life began in Guyana, where she was born. She came to New York with her parents at age 12, and the family settled in Wyandanch, where she struggled to fit into a new society. Griffith’s experience as a child coming to this country from the Caribbean is the basis for “Demerara Gold,” her award-winning solo show about a Guyanese girl’s immigrant experience, which she has been performing for the past several years.

Because of her experiences as a newly arrived immigrant (and an adolescent) in the U.S., Griffith says she understands what it must have been like for Chisholm to return to Brooklyn after living in a strong female-led Caribbean household.

“I remember not blending in and she didn’t either. Her dad was from Guyana, my homeland. I know that Caribbean culture, the whole family dynamic — you’re in, but you’re out,” said Griffith. “I saw this woman and I felt I was in awe of her. There was so much about her that reminded me of my great aunt in Guyana.”

Griffith also feels Chisholm’s strong connection to her Caribbean heritage may have given her the confidence to pursue the nation’s highest office at a time when there were few role models of color, let alone women, leading the way.

“I think that’s part of living in Barbados or Guyana,” said Griffith. “People of color are the prime minister, an aunt is a doctor, a mom is a teacher. You know people who are doing things. You don’t think, ‘Because I’m dark skinned, I can’t do that.’ That whole idea that I’m not enough, or that’s not for me — that was never a thought growing up.

“Where I’m from in Guyana, there were woman leaders in government before there were any in America,” she added. “There’s so much that gets into the psyche of who we see as authoritative figures. When it’s people that look like us, that gives us confidence right away.”

Griffith readily admits that when she set out to write “Unbossed & Unbowed,” she didn’t know much about Chisholm, who looked and sounded like someone from the Caribbean, and she was intrigued to learn more.

“I knew she was congresswoman, I didn’t know she ran for president,” said Griffith. “I saw a documentary in 2005 by Shola Lynch about the campaign. After I saw it, I thought, ‘I want to play this woman. I can do this part.’”

But when it came to finding a theatrical piece about Shirley Chisholm, Griffith soon realized there was no part to play.

“If there’s a story you think should be told, you need to write it,” said Griffith, who began her research at the Brooklyn Public Library where Chisholm’s papers are kept. She also spent time at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

“I would go there every week, four or five hours every Friday, and listen to tapes of her, and radio interviews and take notes,” Griffith said. “I wanted to know about her personal life. I wanted to weave the personal into the public and understand what she gave up to have a career in social activism.”

Chisholm had begun her career in early childhood education, and in Congress, became a strong advocate for social initiatives like Head Start and nutrition programs for the poor. Griffith came to understand in her research just how skilled Chisholm was when it came to building support and organizing around a cause.

“She was part of NOW [National Organization for Women] and every Black organization. She was trying to build a coalition,” Griffith said. “It took numbers and that’s why she was involved in every organization empowering Black women and men and other minority groups.”

When asked why she thinks women and people of color didn’t ultimately line up behind Chisholm’s presidential candidacy when the time came, Griffith sees it as a matter of politics.

“Everybody has an agenda and they step in line. Politicians said if you don’t endorse Chisholm, I will do the thing you want,” Griffith said. “People tend to trade away a bargaining chip. That’s what politicians do and you have to understand the bigger picture. Nobody will take the issues you’re fighting for if you’re endorsing Shirley Chisholm.”

It also may be that Chisholm was a woman who was way ahead of her time. Someone who set out to break barriers in an era when those barriers were still much too formidable — and the allies often suspect.

“Yes,” agrees Griffith. “I think people saw her as being half-crazy because she was so forward thinking. She was connected to groups like the Black Panthers. They felt she was doing what they were doing, but in a different way. They were socially conscious, taking care of Black children and speaking up for their rights and forming a coalition to be heard and taken more seriously.

“She said, ‘I don’t care who you think they are, I’m trying to do something for people of color. If you look at what they’re doing, you’ll see they’re endorsing me and I’m taking it.’”

Ultimately, she feels we can all learn a lot from the legacy of Shirley Chisholm, who died in 2005 at age 80. After having spent so much time researching and writing “Unbossed and Unbowed,” Griffith has come to understand a great deal about herself as well.

“I’ve learned a lesson about being daring and being yourself — to be you totally,” she said. “I think that’s a big deal for me as an outsider and a woman. There’s something about owning who you are that’s so important and having that voice.”

Tickets for Ingrid Griffith’s “Unbossed & Unbowed” are $35 at baystreet.org or 631-725-9500. The performance is Sunday, February 19, at 2 p.m. Bay Street Theater is on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor.