By: Fletcher Pike
‘Shirley’ is a movie that was recently released on March 15th, 2024. This film shows the story of congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (Regina King), and her effort to become the first female president of the United States.
Shirley Chisholm was a real American politician who was the first ever African American woman to be elected to the United States Congress in 1968. Shirley was born in 1924, a time period where people of color faced harsh discrimination and received little opportunities for jobs or places of power. But this didn’t stop Shirley from becoming the first African American female candidate to run for president of the United States.
This movie showed Chisholm’s accomplishments and determination to win the votes of the people to become president. She ran a strong campaign to convince the people that they should vote for her. She recruited a team of people that would help her spread the word around in order to gain more votes, some of which included Robert Gottlieb (Lucas Hedges), Arthur Hardwick Jr. (Terrence Howard), Stanley Townsend (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson).
Due to this unfortunate time period for people of color, Chisholm faced several setbacks that threatened her place of power and her campaign to gain votes. Many people thought that she would not be eligible enough to even be a congresswoman. Even stated by her own fellow congressman, “Why [does] she makes the same money as the rest of us”, in which Shirley quickly defended herself and stood up to him.
I thought that this movie was amazing at incorporating the story of Shirley Chisholm and I found it interesting to watch Shirley’s campaign progress throughout the film. I liked the soundtrack that was used and thought that it did a good job of showing the years of the 60’s.
Overall, I thought that this movie was really good and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning more about Shirley Chisholm’s story and how she led a strong campaign in an attempt to become the first African American female president of the United States. I think that this movie deserves a 10/10. You can watch ‘Shirley’ on Netflix.
For more info on Shirley Chisholm’s story, please visit:
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