Shirley Chisholm dies

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, an advocate for minority rights who became the first black woman elected to Congress and later the first black person to seek a major party’s nomination for the US presidency, has died aged 80.

The Rev Jesse Jackson called her a “woman of great courage.”

Ms Chisholm, who took her seat in the US House in 1969, was a riveting speaker who often criticised Congress as being too clubby and unresponsive. An outspoken champion of women and minorities during seven terms in the House, she was a staunch critic of the Vietnam War.

She ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, a campaign that was viewed as more symbolic than practical. She won 152 delegates before withdrawing.