The -ism Series (24): Anti-Humanism

"In the end, anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism."
Shirley Chisholm

Interviewer: "Are you a feminist?"
Meryl Streep: "I am a humanist. I am for nice easy balance."

"At one point, ‘feminist’ became a pejorative term. How did that happen? If you’re a feminist, you’re basically saying you’re a humanist."
Julianne Moore



Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run to the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Chisholm was a founding member of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women's Political Caucus and known for minority and women's issues (via and via).

"When I ran for the Congress, when I ran for president, I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black. Men are men.(...) They think I am trying to take power from them. The black man must step forward, but that doesn't mean the black woman must step back." Shirley Chisholm

 "Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black." Shirley Chisholm

"I want history to remember me not just as the first black woman to be elected to Congress, not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and dared to be herself."
Shirley Chisholm

"Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt." Shirley Chisholm

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photograph via