The Fayette County Public Library will host two free, public screenings of the documentary “Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed,” examining Shirley Chisholm’s historic 1972 presidential campaign. The dual screenings kick off the library’s 2008 Spring Film Festival, a collaboration with P.O.V., PBS’s award-winning non-fiction film series. “Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed” will be shown at the library on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m., and on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m., with support provided by the Friends of the Fayette County Public Library.

The year 1972 was time full of excitement. Richard Nixon was president, running for his second, ill-fated term. The voting age had just changed from 21 to 18, and millions of new voters were expected at the polls. The Vietnam War was in full swing, as were anti-war protests, a burgeoning women’s movement, and the rise of the Black Panther Party. Into the center of this maelstrom – shocking the conventional political wisdom – stepped Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, a determined, rather prim and unapologetically progressive black woman with a powerful message: Exercise the full measure of your citizenship – vote and assert your rights. Quoting Frederick Douglass, Chisholm liked to remind her audience that “power concedes nothing without demand or struggle.”

Announcing Chisholm’s candidacy for president on the evening news, Walter Cronkite quipped, “A new hat – rather, a bonnet – was tossed into the presidential race today.” As revealed in “Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed,” a feature documentary that aired in 2005 on public television’s P.O.V. series, this first-ever run by a woman and person of color for presidential nomination was no laughing matter. Nor was it a polite exercise in symbolic electioneering. The New York Democratic congresswoman’s bid engendered strong and sometimes bigoted opposition, setting off currents that continue to affect American politics and social perceptions to this day. Shirley Chisholm died at the age of 80 on January 1, 2005, at her home in Florida.

At a time when Americans were just beginning to contemplate the possibility of a black man running for president, Chisholm was black and female. The documentary reveals the visceral opposition and blatant disregard the establishment and the media showed the Congresswoman’s candidacy. All the while, Chisholm remained the “Unbought and Unbossed” candidate, poised and determined to direct the debate and news coverage of her candidacy to her stands on education, employment, health care and the rights of minorities, women, and homosexuals to full participation in American life. Managing surprisingly strong showings in some state primaries, she carried 151 delegates at the severely divided 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami and won the right to speak from the main podium.

“Our goal was to make a documentary as passionate and powerful as Chisholm herself,” said director and co-producer Shola Lynch. “Her story is an important reminder of the power of a dedicated individual to make a difference.” It also reminds us that the country belongs to each of us only if we dare to claim our place in it.

The free local screenings of “Chisholm ’72,” and the rest of the library’s Spring Film Festival, are made possible through a partnership with P.O.V. Now in its 21st season on PBS, P.O.V. is the first and longest-running series on television to feature the work of America’s most innovative documentary storytellers. For more information about P.O.V., visit the website at www.pbs.org/pov.

The Fayette County Public Library is located at 1821 Heritage Park Way in Fayetteville. For additional information about “Chisholm ’72” and the 2008 Spring Film Festival, please contact the library at 770-461-8841 or visit online at www.fayettecountyga.gov/public_library.

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