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Our American Stories

Why Shirley Chisolm Reached a Man Who Built His Career on Racism

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, few figures in twentieth-century American politics stood farther apart than Shirley Chisholm and George Wallace. Chisholm broke barriers as a Black congresswoman and presidential candidate. Wallace became a national symbol of segregation and resistance to civil rights.

A tragic event brought them together, forging an unlikely connection. Special thanks to the Jack Miller Center for bringing this story to our attention.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.6

Guaranteed human.

0:15.0

And we continue with our American stories.

0:18.2

Up next, the story of segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace

0:23.9

and his redemption story too. And it's told by Jeff Bloodworth, who was a professor of American

0:30.1

history at Gannon University, and he is also a Jack Miller Center Fellow. Let's take a listen.

0:38.7

In January, 1963, Wallace earned national infamy

0:42.3

for an inaugural speech in which he declared,

0:45.7

segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

0:54.3

Six months later, the governor captured headlines by standing in a university doorway to stop

0:59.3

integration at the University of Alabama.

1:03.0

These acts transformed an otherwise obscure Southern politician to a household name.

1:09.3

This was exactly his hope. Catapulted to fame he ran for the

1:14.7

presidency in 1964 and in 1968. By 1972, he was a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination

1:23.3

for the presidency. Opposing him in the Democratic primaries was Shirley Chisholm.

1:29.3

An African American congresswoman from Brooklyn, Chisholm was Wallace's political opposite.

1:35.3

Chisholm's Brooklyn congressional district was comprised largely of working class and poor African Americans.

1:41.3

Elected in 1968, she became the nation's first ever black female congresswoman.

1:46.8

In 1972, she broke yet another barrier as the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination

1:52.3

for president. Backed by the Black Panthers and leading feminists, Shirley Chisholm was everything.

1:59.1

George Wallace was not. In 1972, Chisholm and everything. George Wallace was not.

2:06.6

In 1972, Chisholm and Wallace found their political face intertwined by an assassin's bullet.

...

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