Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

New Shirley Chisholm Film to Pay Tribute to Central Brooklyn Icon

By Camille Bautista | July 1, 2016 4:13pm | Updated on July 5, 2016 8:39am
 A new film,
A new film, "Chisholm," is in the works to honor the life of Shirley Chisholm, the nation's first black congresswoman and central Brooklyn native.
View Full Caption
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, LC-USZ62-135429

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A new film is in the works to pay homage to the late central Brooklyn native and the nation’s first black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm.

Chisholm” will star singer and Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose, of “Dreamgirls,” and the TV miniseries “Roots,” according to producer Bryan Gambogi of Creative Monster Productions.

The movie is set to center on the former Bedford-Stuyvesant resident’s 1972 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Gambogi said.

She was the first major-party African-American woman to make a bid for the presidency.

“It’s to let people know that because society says that you can’t do something, you’re standing up against all odds pointing against you and being able to rely on your wit and intelligence to weather through that,” the producer said of the film’s aim.

“It’s that inner strength.”

Chisholm graduated from Boys and Girls High School, attended Brooklyn College and earned a Master’s Degree from Columbia University.

After becoming a director in early childhood education, she served as a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly and later became the first African-American woman in Congress.

"I have no intention of just sitting quietly and observing," she once said. "I intend to focus attention on the nation's problems."

The movie from Creative Monster Productions and B-Bullard LLC will also be co-produced by Rose, Gambogi said, and filming is expected to begin in fall 2017. News of Rose’s role in the film was first reported by Shadow and Act.

Barbara Bullard, a Bed-Stuy resident who is also co-producing the project, played a role in maintaining Chisholm’s legacy, she said.

She helped in the USPS' unveiling of a stamp in Chisholm’s honor, she said, as well as planned events celebrating the 40th anniversary of her presidential run.

“I started realizing how much she did not just for local folks, but nationally and globally," Bullard said. “She was out there fighting battles and no one realizes we’re standing on her shoulders.

“I’m extremely excited to participate in a project that’s giving back to a community that is extremely culturally sound, but also needs recognition for all the powerhouses that comes out of it.”