AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Democracy Now!, the Exception to the Rulers. I’m Amy Goodman.

The House of Representatives yesterday passed by a vote of 415 to 0 House Resolution 97, a resolution introduced by Berkeley Congressmember Barbara Lee that recognizes the contributions, achievements and work of the Honorable Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressmember Barbara Lee joins us on the line right now from Congress.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

REP. BARBARA LEE: Thank you very much. Good to hear you.

AMY GOODMAN: Thanks for joining us. Can you tell us about why you’re singling out Shirley Chisholm?

REP. BARBARA LEE: First of all, Shirley Chisholm was the first African American, the first woman to run for president. This was way back in 1972. I think the country and the world should recognize her for her major contributions to our country, not only during Black History Month and Women’s History Month, but Shirley Chisholm should be recognized in American history as a woman who was far ahead of her time, a visionary, and a woman who ran for president.

And, you know, when she came to Mills College when I was a student there in 1972, on public assistance, trying to raise two young boys as a single mother, Shirley encouraged me to get involved in politics. She was actually the person who convinced me to register to vote. I think our young women, especially, should look at Shirley Chisholm as a role model. She certainly encouraged me to get involved in politics.

She made a major contribution to her country and to the nation. And I just think yesterday’s vote was a great vote in terms of honoring and celebrating the life of a woman who still continues to counsel women, who continues to utilize her background and history to help all of us and to help this country become a better place.

AMY GOODMAN: Shirley Chisholm joined a coalition of 15 representatives introducing legislation to end the draft and create an all-volunteer force. How significant was that?

REP. BARBARA LEE: That was very significant. You realize this was during the early '70s. Shirley Chisholm was a very progressive woman author. Her politics were very progressive. She was bilingual. She spoke, and she speaks, fluent Spanish. She's an individual who wanted to see the world deal with our priorities in the context of world peace. She was very much a person for peaceful coexistence. She was against war, and she was a person whose insight was very valued in Congress. She was a member of the powerful Rules Committee. She used her position as a member of that committee not for personal gain, but she used that power to represent and service her constituents in a way that was magnificent.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you, Congressmember Lee, what the change in the Senate means to you as a congresswoman, and what do you think of the legacy on the period of time that Shirley Chisholm was in the House of Representatives?

REP. BARBARA LEE: Well, Shirley Chisholm, first of all, paved the way for so many of us — women, African Americans, progressives — to really run for Congress. Now there are 15 African American women in the United States Congress. And you see many women in the United States Senate. And, of course, the change in the Senate ensures that more women achieve the type of clout in the committees in terms of their perspective and their input on public policy, which affects women, which affects people of color, which affects our entire country and the world. So, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm actually paved the way in terms of forcing this country to deal with the fact that women and that people of color also deserve the right to be involved in the political process, and that they should and could break glass ceilings and make a major contribution to our country.

And so, that is why I introduced the resolution honoring and recognizing Shirley Chisholm’s life and her legacy, so that the world will always remember that it took one person to be a catalyst for change. She was unbought, and she was unbossed. She ran for president, and we must never forget that she was the first woman and the first African American to take a risk and to run a presidential campaign. She was a nominee for — she was one of our Democratic Party, excuse me, candidates, who really ran very strong in California. Wilson Riles Jr., Sandré Swanson, Sandy Gaines and myself, we actually coordinated her Northern California campaign from my college campus, from Mills College, actually from my government class, which I was required to do field work in a political campaign.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Barbara Lee, I want to thank you for being with us. Again, the resolution passed yesterday honoring Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1972, she was the first African American woman to run for president on the Democratic ticket. She retired from office in ’82 and continues to live in upstate New York.