African American Presidential Candidates

Barack Obama is certainly a recognizable African American figure in this 2008 U.S. Presidential race with a chance to lead one of the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years. But let not forget that there are quite a few African Americans who sought the same job before him.

Shirley St. Hill Chisholm (1924 – 2005) A New Yorker, was the first African
America female to be elected to Congress in 1968. In 1972, she ran for the presidential nomination as a democrat, receiving 152 delegate votes, but was unable to win, losing the nomination to South Dakota Senator George McGovern. She strongly spoke out for civil rights, women’s right and the poor. Among the volunteers who were inspired by her campaign was Barbara Lee, who would go on to become a congresswoman some 25 years later. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Chisholm also authored two books, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Jesse Jackson (1941 - present) A Baptist Minister and a civil right activist ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, becoming the second African American (after Shirley Chisholm) to mount a nationwide campaign for President of the United States, running as a Democrat. During his first run, he managed to win 18 percent of the primary votes and won five primaries and caucuses. In 1988, he more than doubled his results compared to his first run in 1984. This time, his successes in the past made him a more credible candidate, and he was both better financed and better organized. Although most people did not seem to believe he had a serious chance at winning, Jackson once again
exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R.W. Apple of the New York Times to call 1988 “the Year of Jackson”. However, Jackson’s campaign suffered a significant setback less than two weeks later when he was defeated handily in the Wisconsin primary by Michael Dukakis.

Lenora Fulani (1950 - present) - A political activist and psychotherapist, ran for President for the New Alliance Party (NAP) in 1988 and in 1992. She was the first African American female independent to be on ballot in all 50 states. She also received the most ever votes for a woman for President in a U.S. general election.

Alan Keyes (1950 - present) - A political activist and a diplomat under the
Ronald Reagan government sought the Republican nomination in 1996, in 2000 and yes in 2008. He had received almost no media coverage compared to Barack Obama. He did however participate in the Des Moines register’s Republican presidential carried by PBS back in December 12, 2007.

Carol Moseley Braun (1947 - present) - A US senator representing Illinois briefly ran for the Democratic Party nomination in 2004. She announced her intention to run for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in February 2003. On January 15, 2004, four days before the Iowa caucuses, Carol Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed Howard Dean. She was the first, and to date, the only, African American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first African-American senator to be elected as a Democrat, and the first and to date only woman elected to the Senate from Illinois.

Al Sharpton (1954 - present) - A civil rights activist, a Baptist minister and founder of the National Action Network. Sharpton ran for the 2004 presidential nomination as a democrat but endorsed John Kerry a year later. In the African Diaspora his name is associated with Amadou Diallo. Sharpton led a protest to raise awareness about the death of Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea who was shot to death by NYPD officers. Sharpton claimed that Diallo’s death was the result of police brutality and racial profiling. Diallo’s family was later awarded $3 million in a wrongful death suit filed against the city.

Barack Obama (1961- present) - Unknown to the public until the 2004 Democratic National Convention where he delivered one of the most inspiring keynote speech. From there he gained the celebrity status. But prior to that Obama started his career as a community organizer and a civil rights activist in Illinois. In 2005 he was sworn in as a US senator from Illinois and in February 2007 announced his candidacy for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Since then he had become one of the leading candidate for the Democratic Party. A product of a Kenyan father and a white America mother, Obama found himself struggling between two divergent races and culture pulling him from both extreme. But it is within this divergence he found his inspirational status. Sure Obama has gone
far than his predecessors but whatever is the outcome, he sure was and will be the next milestone to beat, a shining beacon for the next African American candidate or minority who seeks the highest office of the land. But whoever wins on the Democratic Party will be making
history.

Article first published in ADUNAGOW Magazine