Shirley Chisholm Visits Fulton Street Festival

In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm strolled the tables lining Fulton Street, stopping to chat with vendors at the bustling outdoor festival in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. Just four years earlier, in 1968, Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress, representing the people of Bed-Stuy. In 1972, she made history again by becoming the first Black American to run for a major-party nomination (in this case, the Democratic Party) for the office of President of the United States. In this photo, the "Photo of the Week," Chisholm -- who by then would be campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for the US presidency -- is joined by husband Conrad Chisholm (wearing a hat) and four others as she mingles with her constituents in Bed-Stuy. The photograph was taken by Khalil Abdulkhabir.

Titled "Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm visits the Fulton St. festival," this black-and-white photo is included in the Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History collection Khalil Abdulkhabir photographs of the Dar-ul-Islam movement 2020.002, which encompasses the years 1972 to 1977.  The photographer, Khalil Abdulkhabir, documented the Dar-ul-Islam, "known as 'the Dar,' one of the first and most significant grassroots movements established by African-American Sunni Muslims" in the United States. Abdulkhabir, his wife Tunura, and their children were part of the Dar community, which "was focused around the Yasin Mosque, at 52 Herkimer Place." Abdulkhabir got his start in photography while involved with Youth in Action, an anti-poverty program in Brooklyn.

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at [email protected].