On this episode of Our American Stories, a tragic event brought a racist (George Wallace) and a radical (Shirley Chisholm) together, forging an unlikely alliance. Special thanks to the Jack Miller Center for bringing this story to our attention.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next the
story of segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace and his redemption
story too. And it's told by Jeff Bludworth, who was
a professor of American history again in university, and he
is also a Jack Miller Center fellow. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
In January nineteen sixty three, Wallace earned national infamy for
an inaugural speech in which he declared.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Segregation now, segregation Tomara, and segregation forever.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Six months later, the governor captured headlines by standing in
a university doorway to stop integration at the University of Alabama.
These acts trans formed an otherwise obscure Southern politician to
a household name. This was exactly his hope. Catapulted to fame,
he ran for the presidency in nineteen sixty four and
(01:13):
in nineteen sixty eight. By nineteen seventy two, he was
a front runner for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
Opposing him of the Democratic primaries was Shirley Chisholm, an
African American congresswoman from Brooklyn. Chisholm was Wallace's political opposite.
Chisholm's Brooklyn congressional district was comprised largely of working class,
(01:35):
in poor African Americans. Elected in nineteen sixty eight, she
became the nation's first ever black female congresswoman. In nineteen
seventy two, she broke yet another barrier as the first
woman to run for the Democratic nomination for president. Backed
by the Black Panthers and leading feminists, Shirley Chisholm was
everything George Wallace was not. In nineteen seventy two, Chisholm
(01:58):
and Wallace found their political faiths intertwined by an assassin's bullet.
Fresh from victory in the Florida primary, the governor led
all Democrats in several polls. An assassin shot the governor
in the abdomen chest. One bullet lodged in Wallace's spinal column.
(02:20):
This wound paralyzed the governor for life and ended his
national political aspirations. In hopes of wooing his supporters, a
series of Democratic front runners visited Wallace in the hospital.
Among these visitors was none other than Shirley Chisholm. Unlike
her Democratic rivals, Chisholm had nothing to gain from this
(02:41):
bedside vigil. She not only had zero chance of attracting
Wallace supporters, she also risked antagonizing her own. In nineteen
seventy two, Wallace was the most reviled political figure in
Black America. Martin Luther King had once called him the
most dangerous racist America. He said this because Wallace was
(03:03):
no garden variety segregationist. As governor, he allowed white supremacists
to run rough shot over civil rights activists, which culminated
in church bombings, dogs being unleashed on child protesters, and
Bloody Sunday. In March nineteen sixty five, Governor Wallace unleashed
(03:25):
state troopers on a column of nonviolent protesters at Selma,
Alabama's Edmund Pettis Bridge, Armed with teargrass and mallets. State
troopers and horseback beat and whipped protesters. Captured on tape
by National reporters. Bloody Sunday shocked nation. Such was George
Wallace's Alabama. Due to Wallace's actions, one could well understand
(03:49):
the depth of African American antipathy. When Chisholm told staff
of her plan to visit Wallace, she was met with
cries of what no way. One staffer explained, I just
could not believe it. How In the world. Could this woman,
a black woman, go visit this horrible individual? But the
congresswoman was unmoved. Her entire life had been defined by
(04:13):
cutting against the grain. Born the working class parents in Brooklyn,
She's been her formative years in Barbados, living with the
grandmother who ran, in her words, a strongly disciplined family unit.
Had strong As a kid, Chisholm regularly ordered older playmates around.
A prize winning debater. In college, she earned a master's
(04:33):
degree from Columbia University, but Chisholm was never one to
follow the crowd. A rugged individualist, she ran for Congress
by bucking the system. Calling herself unbought and unbossed. She
reveled in the fact that quote, the party leaders do
not like me. In nineteen sixty nine, she became the
first ever African American woman to serve in Congress, but
(04:57):
she was hardly met with open arms. Relegated to the
Agriculture Committee, the Brooklynite turned insult into opportunity, Combining her
zeal to help the impoverished. With her Agriculture Committee post,
she held meetings with farm state legislators. Those talks helped
lead to the expansion of the food stamp program to
every national jurisdiction. In Congress, she remained a fearless truth teller.
(05:21):
Anyone who knew anything about Chisholm realized criticism would not
deter her. Chisholm always kept her eyes on the prize.
In regard to her meeting with Wallace, she told an aide, quote,
I may be able to teach them something to help
him regain his humanity. You have to rise to the
occasion if you're a leader, and enlighten people who may
(05:43):
hate you. No one was more surprised by Chishom's outreach
than Wallace himself. When she came to the hospital, he asked,
what are your people going to say about your coming here.
Chisholm replied that she was not sure, but quote, I
would not want what happened to you to happen to anyone.
(06:06):
As she said this, the congresswoman took the segregation's hand
and prayed with him. The governor, according to his daughter,
wept uncontrollably. In the weeks and months after this meeting,
Chisholm faced a firestorm, but time and persistence tamped down
(06:26):
the controversy. Chisholm failed to win any primaries in nineteen
seventy two, but she did earn one hundred and fifty
two first ballot votes for the presidential nomination, a trailblazing effort,
Chisholm returned to Congress with a national profile. Wallace, meanwhile, struggled,
afflicted with constant pain from gun wounds. He battled a
(06:47):
painkiller addiction and endured a very ugly and public divorce.
But Wallace also embarked upon a transformation. According to his daughter,
Chisholm's visit, along with his paralysis, forced him to sit
still and reflect. As a result, she claimed he had
a real awakening, a change of heart. Like most real
(07:08):
life transformations, it was slow and halting. In nineteen seventy four, Chisholm,
to the surprise almost everyone, called Wallace and asked for
help to extend federal minimum wage laws to domestic servants,
aimed primarily at African American women working in white Southern households.
The bill had been bitterly opposed by Southern Democrats. One
(07:31):
Chisholm phone called to Wallace, however, pushed the governor to act.
He worked the phones minds were changed. The bill passed
five years later in nineteen seventy nine, Wallace did the unthinkable.
He attended a service at Martin Luther King's Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in Montgomery. On that Sunday, he wheeled himself
(07:52):
to the front of the black congregation and confessed his
racist sins. Wallace's conversion was far from per In interviews,
he sometimes downplayed his past racism, but in a series
of other high profile public and private events, Wallace admitted
his past and told out Black Alabama's I'm sorry to skeptics,
(08:19):
Wallace's conversion was convenient and Alabama's democratic politics, the black vote,
now that they could vote, was decisive. By the nineteen eighties,
Wallace was colorblind when it came to winning an election.
None of us can divine a person's heart. Black political
power surely motivated Wallace's change, but change he did. As
(08:43):
governor in the nineteen eighties, he appointed scores of African
Americans to high level posts. He signed legislation to help
the poor and dispossessed, and an irony of all ironies,
George Corley Wallace probably did more for black Alabama's than
any other governor in the history of the state. In
nineteen ninety eight, George Wallace met with the civil rights
(09:06):
icon John Lewis to offer an apology. It was Lewis
who nearly died at the hands of Wallace State troopers
in nineteen sixty five Selma. In this meeting, Lewis forgave
his former tormentor, and a New York Times column, the
(09:27):
congressman wrote, I can never forget what George Wallace said
and did as governor, but our ability to forgive serves
a higher moral purpose in our society. George Wallace deserves
to be remembered for his effort to redeem his soul
and in so doing, to mend the fabric of American society.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to
Jeff Bloodworth, who was a professor of American at Canon University.
He's also a Jack Miller Center Fellow, and the Jack
Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars and teachers
dedicated to educating the next generation about America's founding principles
and history. To learn more, visit Jackmillercenter dot org. And
(10:16):
What a Story to teach young people That scene of
her holding his hand in praying with him. And who's crying, well,
of course it's Governor Wallace crying. The story of racism
in America and redemption, and the story of a unique
relationship that of Governor George Wallace and the late Great
(10:36):
Shirley Chisholm. Their story here on our American Stories.
And we continue with our American stories. Up next the
story of segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace and his redemption
story too. And it's told by Jeff Bludworth, who was
a professor of American history again in university, and he
is also a Jack Miller Center fellow. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
In January nineteen sixty three, Wallace earned national infamy for
an inaugural speech in which he declared.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Segregation now, segregation Tomara, and segregation forever.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Six months later, the governor captured headlines by standing in
a university doorway to stop integration at the University of Alabama.
These acts trans formed an otherwise obscure Southern politician to
a household name. This was exactly his hope. Catapulted to fame,
he ran for the presidency in nineteen sixty four and
(01:13):
in nineteen sixty eight. By nineteen seventy two, he was
a front runner for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
Opposing him of the Democratic primaries was Shirley Chisholm, an
African American congresswoman from Brooklyn. Chisholm was Wallace's political opposite.
Chisholm's Brooklyn congressional district was comprised largely of working class,
(01:35):
in poor African Americans. Elected in nineteen sixty eight, she
became the nation's first ever black female congresswoman. In nineteen
seventy two, she broke yet another barrier as the first
woman to run for the Democratic nomination for president. Backed
by the Black Panthers and leading feminists, Shirley Chisholm was
everything George Wallace was not. In nineteen seventy two, Chisholm
(01:58):
and Wallace found their political faiths intertwined by an assassin's bullet.
Fresh from victory in the Florida primary, the governor led
all Democrats in several polls. An assassin shot the governor
in the abdomen chest. One bullet lodged in Wallace's spinal column.
(02:20):
This wound paralyzed the governor for life and ended his
national political aspirations. In hopes of wooing his supporters, a
series of Democratic front runners visited Wallace in the hospital.
Among these visitors was none other than Shirley Chisholm. Unlike
her Democratic rivals, Chisholm had nothing to gain from this
(02:41):
bedside vigil. She not only had zero chance of attracting
Wallace supporters, she also risked antagonizing her own. In nineteen
seventy two, Wallace was the most reviled political figure in
Black America. Martin Luther King had once called him the
most dangerous racist America. He said this because Wallace was
(03:03):
no garden variety segregationist. As governor, he allowed white supremacists
to run rough shot over civil rights activists, which culminated
in church bombings, dogs being unleashed on child protesters, and
Bloody Sunday. In March nineteen sixty five, Governor Wallace unleashed
(03:25):
state troopers on a column of nonviolent protesters at Selma,
Alabama's Edmund Pettis Bridge, Armed with teargrass and mallets. State
troopers and horseback beat and whipped protesters. Captured on tape
by National reporters. Bloody Sunday shocked nation. Such was George
Wallace's Alabama. Due to Wallace's actions, one could well understand
(03:49):
the depth of African American antipathy. When Chisholm told staff
of her plan to visit Wallace, she was met with
cries of what no way. One staffer explained, I just
could not believe it. How In the world. Could this woman,
a black woman, go visit this horrible individual? But the
congresswoman was unmoved. Her entire life had been defined by
(04:13):
cutting against the grain. Born the working class parents in Brooklyn,
She's been her formative years in Barbados, living with the
grandmother who ran, in her words, a strongly disciplined family unit.
Had strong As a kid, Chisholm regularly ordered older playmates around.
A prize winning debater. In college, she earned a master's
(04:33):
degree from Columbia University, but Chisholm was never one to
follow the crowd. A rugged individualist, she ran for Congress
by bucking the system. Calling herself unbought and unbossed. She
reveled in the fact that quote, the party leaders do
not like me. In nineteen sixty nine, she became the
first ever African American woman to serve in Congress, but
(04:57):
she was hardly met with open arms. Relegated to the
Agriculture Committee, the Brooklynite turned insult into opportunity, Combining her
zeal to help the impoverished. With her Agriculture Committee post,
she held meetings with farm state legislators. Those talks helped
lead to the expansion of the food stamp program to
every national jurisdiction. In Congress, she remained a fearless truth teller.
(05:21):
Anyone who knew anything about Chisholm realized criticism would not
deter her. Chisholm always kept her eyes on the prize.
In regard to her meeting with Wallace, she told an aide, quote,
I may be able to teach them something to help
him regain his humanity. You have to rise to the
occasion if you're a leader, and enlighten people who may
(05:43):
hate you. No one was more surprised by Chishom's outreach
than Wallace himself. When she came to the hospital, he asked,
what are your people going to say about your coming here.
Chisholm replied that she was not sure, but quote, I
would not want what happened to you to happen to anyone.
(06:06):
As she said this, the congresswoman took the segregation's hand
and prayed with him. The governor, according to his daughter,
wept uncontrollably. In the weeks and months after this meeting,
Chisholm faced a firestorm, but time and persistence tamped down
(06:26):
the controversy. Chisholm failed to win any primaries in nineteen
seventy two, but she did earn one hundred and fifty
two first ballot votes for the presidential nomination, a trailblazing effort,
Chisholm returned to Congress with a national profile. Wallace, meanwhile, struggled,
afflicted with constant pain from gun wounds. He battled a
(06:47):
painkiller addiction and endured a very ugly and public divorce.
But Wallace also embarked upon a transformation. According to his daughter,
Chisholm's visit, along with his paralysis, forced him to sit
still and reflect. As a result, she claimed he had
a real awakening, a change of heart. Like most real
(07:08):
life transformations, it was slow and halting. In nineteen seventy four, Chisholm,
to the surprise almost everyone, called Wallace and asked for
help to extend federal minimum wage laws to domestic servants,
aimed primarily at African American women working in white Southern households.
The bill had been bitterly opposed by Southern Democrats. One
(07:31):
Chisholm phone called to Wallace, however, pushed the governor to act.
He worked the phones minds were changed. The bill passed
five years later in nineteen seventy nine, Wallace did the unthinkable.
He attended a service at Martin Luther King's Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in Montgomery. On that Sunday, he wheeled himself
(07:52):
to the front of the black congregation and confessed his
racist sins. Wallace's conversion was far from per In interviews,
he sometimes downplayed his past racism, but in a series
of other high profile public and private events, Wallace admitted
his past and told out Black Alabama's I'm sorry to skeptics,
(08:19):
Wallace's conversion was convenient and Alabama's democratic politics, the black vote,
now that they could vote, was decisive. By the nineteen eighties,
Wallace was colorblind when it came to winning an election.
None of us can divine a person's heart. Black political
power surely motivated Wallace's change, but change he did. As
(08:43):
governor in the nineteen eighties, he appointed scores of African
Americans to high level posts. He signed legislation to help
the poor and dispossessed, and an irony of all ironies,
George Corley Wallace probably did more for black Alabama's than
any other governor in the history of the state. In
nineteen ninety eight, George Wallace met with the civil rights
(09:06):
icon John Lewis to offer an apology. It was Lewis
who nearly died at the hands of Wallace State troopers
in nineteen sixty five Selma. In this meeting, Lewis forgave
his former tormentor, and a New York Times column, the
(09:27):
congressman wrote, I can never forget what George Wallace said
and did as governor, but our ability to forgive serves
a higher moral purpose in our society. George Wallace deserves
to be remembered for his effort to redeem his soul
and in so doing, to mend the fabric of American society.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to
Jeff Bloodworth, who was a professor of American at Canon University.
He's also a Jack Miller Center Fellow, and the Jack
Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars and teachers
dedicated to educating the next generation about America's founding principles
and history. To learn more, visit Jackmillercenter dot org. And
(10:16):
What a Story to teach young people That scene of
her holding his hand in praying with him. And who's crying, well,
of course it's Governor Wallace crying. The story of racism
in America and redemption, and the story of a unique
relationship that of Governor George Wallace and the late Great
(10:36):
Shirley Chisholm. Their story here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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