Shirley Chisholm was a pioneering Black politician who in 1968 was America’s first-ever Black Congresswoman, becoming the first Black person to mount a presidential campaign in 1972. And yes, she was the first woman to ever campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Yet today she is virtually unknown – and Regina King decided to do something about that.
“Shirley,” streaming March 22 on Netflix, is the result of a years-long producing effort by the Oscar-winner who also stars as the determinedly optimistic Chisholm.
“This film was necessary,” King, 53, said in a Zoom interview, “because for the majority of our lives, whenever my sister and I (as my producing partner on this) would mention Shirley Chisholm or whenever her name would come up, people didn’t know who she was.
“They never even heard the name! That just seemed like a crime to us. We felt like Shirley is such a huge part of the fabric of America, the fabric of our political landscape, that it does not make any sense that people would not know her name.
“That was the initial reason for wanting to tell the story. As time went on, we started to learn more about who she was and it even more felt like this woman is a superhero.
“I get the opportunity to play a superhero and hopefully inspire others to want to move the way she moved in that political space.”
As a politician, Chisholm perhaps lacks the spotlight status of a lawyer or doctor who saves lives. But King wanted a detailed look at the woman behind the headlines.
“It was important to tell a story that humanizes her,” King explained. “People can only see her in one light, a speaker or a debater. They don’t get to see the nuanced moments that show the humanity of a person that we only see in pictures, or a short video clip or the little Wikipedia entry with bullet points of their life.
“We watch these stories hoping to feel a connection to real life characters – and for that we lean into the human side of them.
“If you will,” she added, “this is a more quiet film and I do think learning those things are what keeps you in the story.”
Alongside the public moments “Shirley” reveals familial issues, the complexities of a marriage where she had the spotlight and she was giving orders, making decisions.
“These things are true. We really try our hardest to honor Shirley as much as possible. But part of honoring a person is to tell the complex version of who a person is and their life experience.”
“Shirley” streams on Netflix.
