The first Black woman elected to Congress represented urban Brooklyn, so the establishment boxed her into the Agriculture Committee to sideline her. Instead, she weaponized that insult to lay the groundwork for the WIC program that fed millions. This deep dive is a masterclass in navigating systems built to exclude you.

We trace Shirley Chisholm from a strict Depression-era childhood split between Brooklyn and Barbados to her historic 1972 presidential run. A study emerges of a politician with radical independence and ruthless pragmatism, willing to horse-trade and even shake hostile hands to deliver for her constituents.

• Forging her psychological armor as a child raised by her grandmother in Barbados
• Winning her state assembly seat by bypassing the machine through women's networks
• Hiring an all-female staff and t ...