Shirley Chisholm: and Other Conversations by Shirely Chisholm

Author:Shirely Chisholm [Chisholm, Shirely]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2021-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

THE LAST INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW BY CAMILLE COSBY

NATIONAL VISIONARY LEADERSHIP PROJECT

MAY 7, 2002

CAMILLE COSBY: Ms. Chisholm, where and when were you born?

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: I was born in New York, on November 30th, 1924.

COSBY: Did you grow up in New York?

CHISHOLM: No, I did not grow up in New York. I left New York at the age of three and grew up on the island of Barbados in the British West Indies.

COSBY: One of your parents was brought up or lived in Barbados?

CHISHOLM: My mother was born in Barbados and my father was born in British Guyana.

COSBY: Oh, I see.

CHISHOLM: So both of them married and of course, I’m of Caribbean heritage, therefore.

COSBY: What was your childhood like in Barbados?

CHISHOLM: Oh, my childhood, I can remember it. It…it was exciting. We live on a great big farm and we had to take care of all of the animals on the farm—the chickens, the goats, the sheep, the hens, all of the animals on the farm. And I’ll never forget, whenever it rained, and the weather was very, very bad, my responsibility was to go out and really bring the animals into the shade, and I became afraid of lightning because of that.

COSBY: Really?

CHISHOLM: Because whenever I went out to bring the animals in, the lightning would be flashing sometimes, and whenever I get, would go to look at the animals, they would be stiff, they would be standing. And by the time I went over to pick them up and tried to bring them in, they would be dead. And that came from the lightning. The, the lightning was very, very fierce in the West Indies, and from then, even until today, I am scared to death of lightning.

COSBY: Well, apparently you had a lot of freedom on an island such as that. I mean, certainly, you could have freedom of movement, probably it was a communal environment. Is that what you experienced, and, and were you living with someone in the family?

CHISHOLM: I grew up with my maternal grandmother, and my maternal aunt, and my maternal uncle. I went there at the age of three, and I went to the elementary schools in the islands. I did not return to the United States until nine years of age. So I had six years upbringing in the island of Barbados.

COSBY: Fantastic. Good for you. Are you one of several siblings?

CHISHOLM: Yes, I am. I’m the oldest of four girls, and all of us, we received our elementary school in the islands, and I don’t know if this is important or not, but all three of us got scholarships because we were so bright and we had very high IQs. And that is attributable to my rearing in the British West Indies.

COSBY: I see. Because you feel that the school system is superior.

CHISHOLM: Oh, yeah, the school system was fantastic.

COSBY: I see.

CHISHOLM: Really fantastic.

COSBY: Very good. Also, probably because you were in such a supportive environment, that always encourages learning as well.

CHISHOLM: Of course.

COSBY:

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