Actress and Playwright Ingrid Griffith Brings Shirley Chisholm Alive on Stage - a podcast by Moronke Oshin-Martin & Grace Oshin

Ingrid Griffith is an award-winning playwright, stage actress, solo artist, and an adjunct professor who, until the coronavirus pandemic stopped everyone in their tracks, had been touring London and the Caribbean over the last six years with her solo performances of plays that she has written, including Unbossed and Unbowed: The Life and Times of Shirley Chisholm, and Demerara Gold, an immigrant's story. But, the pandemic has not stopped her from performing live, virtually -- on the now infamous small screen--ZOOM.

On August 27, 2020, in a riveting presentation called Women Who Changed History, which featured three monologues about real women who stood up to systems of injustice, Ingrid's performance showed us why the iconic Shirley Chisholm is as relevant today as she was in the 1960s and 1970s when she stood up to oppressive systems in defense of social justice for people from marginalized communities. The virtual performance was sponsored by Planet Connections. Unbossed and Unbowed was written and performed by Ingrid Griffith and directed by Magaly Colimon-Christopher.

Born to immigrant parents from Guyana and Barbados, Shirley Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author who, in 1968, became the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she made history again as the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972). Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbossed and Unbought—illustrated her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 30, 1924. She died on January 1, 2005. 

Visit our website at www.eyesonafricacaribbean.com to learn more about Ingrid Griffith and Shirley Chisolm

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