Ovid.TV Presents CHISHOLM ‘72: UNBOUGHT & UNBOSSED Review — Witness A Powerful Journey

One seemingly ordinary day in January of 1972, a congresswoman was scheduled to speak at Congress Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.

As she walked down the aisle, audience members rushed to stand from their metal folding chairs, applauding with overwhelming sentiment. Their faces brimmed with bright smiles and hopeful encouragement as the congress woman waved, waiting for the crowd to quiet down, though appreciative of their warm welcome. An array of press microphones tangled together on the podium, waiting, like the rest of the audience for the tension to break, for the news to come.  

She stood for a moment until the silence she demanded was given, and when her request was fulfilled, Shirley Chisholm spoke:
“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.”

Ovid.Tv’s Film “Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed” provides a first hand account of history

As Sandra Gaines, a Chisholm campaigner, spoke to interviewers about first hearing of Chisholm’s efforts, she communicated an overwhelming disbelief. 

“I said, who is this?" She’s running for what?"

"President," I said,

"President of what?” 

Through a series of interviews with those who worked for the Chisholm campaign, on other Democratic campaigns which ran parallel to Chisholm’s, as well as interviews with Chisholm and her family, viewers witness history through the eyes which saw it as the present. Learning of the trials and tribulations the Chisholm campaign faced and the importance it held to Americans in a time where a Black woman running for president was inconceivable. 

A common thread amongst interviews featured in the documentary, albeit Chisholm herself, was an inability to wrap their minds around the mere existence of Shirley Chisholm. As if they wouldn’t believe she was real if they hadn’t met her themselves. 

Chisholm sat in her home. She wore a brilliant blue suit with matching earrings. The wigs she once adored in classic 70s fashion now retired to reveal her natural gray hair. It’s been years since the campaign has ended, but still she recalls her political experience with vivid detail. 

“When I went there, I was very very unhappy to be truthful about it. Cause never had a Black woman sat in the United States Congress before. And they all stood back, stood away from me. I felt like I was somebody coming out of the moon.”

Despite knowledge of how the campaign ends, you’ll find yourself rooting for Chisholm’s victory. In this writer’s opinion, Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed teaches that the end goal isn’t always as important as the journey. While its message still carries through to the present day, if you’re less of a history buff, this may not be the film for you!

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CAST

Shirley Chisholm, Amiri Baraka, Octavia Butler, Bobby Seale

CREATIVE TEAM

Directed by Shola Lynch

To watch the film, visit OVID.tv

Images courtesy of OVID.tv