Before Obama: Political History

In this Nov. 6, 1968 file photo Shirley Chisholm is surrounded by campaign workers flashing the victory sign, shortly after she won election to Congress from New York City's Bedford-Stuyvesant district, on Nov. 6, 1968. In 1972 Chisholm became the first black woman to pursue the presidency, waging a campaign to end the Vietnam War and give voice to the silent in the nation's policy-making. Jesse Jackson followed in 1984 and 1988, paving the way for the candidacies of Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun.