After insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, destroying anything they could get their hands on, including desecrating a memorial placard of civil rights icon U.S. Congressman John R. Lewis, there was one historic structure that was left unscathed – a portrait of former U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the nation’s first woman — and Black woman — from the Democratic Party to run for U.S. president in 1972.
The painting by Kadir Nelson of the late U.S. representative, who was also the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, portrays a bold and unapologetic Chisholm with her arms folded as she towers over the Capitol building. That illustrious artwork of the former Congresswoman stared down the mostly white insurrectionists as they tried unsuccessfully to overturn the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
