Shirley Chisholm's career impacts our understanding of civil rights because it is an ongoing battle that individuals must fight for. Her childhood was one of the reasons that ultimately pushed her into politics and her influence in the civil rights movement. Chisolm's parents were from the Caribbean island of Barbados and she was born in Brooklyn. She was sent back to live in Barbados because her parents were less fortunate with her sisters living with her grandmother and aunt. Her grandmother and aunt instilled racial pride in Chisolm. While living in Barbados in a rural area, she developed a sense of pride because she was exposed to other people of color who wielded political power and administrative powers. She earned her master's degree in elementary education from Columbia University and became an expert. on early childhood education. She also did a number of volunteer jobs and volunteered with organizations such as the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League and the League of Women Voters, which ultimately led to her political career. Additionally, Chisholm's career began to take shape as the greatest obstacle she faced: "the hostility she faced because of her gender, the hostility she would face for the rest of her life." political life” (p. 44). The hostility she faced ultimately shaped her role in the civil rights movement, as she was motivated to prove that not only African Americans were capable of participating in politics, but women were as well. “Her first successful bill, which she was very proud of, was a bill. which established New York State's first unemployment insurance coverage for personal and domestic employees” (p. 51), which is important because it ensures the safety of individuals. However, in the SEEK program that Shirley helped create, program participants did not know who she was. “It is clear that the lives of working-class women of color are less valuable than those of influential white men” (p. Winslow 154). The book continues to assert that black women work inconspicuously, an example that Rosa Parks is just a tired lady who wanted to sit down, not an activist who was trying to awaken a civil rights movement.