ABSTRACT
Black female candidates often face institutional obstacles as they seek political office. This chapter argues that the presidential runs of Charlene Mitchell (1968) and Shirley Chisholm (1972), as the first Black women to run on an alternative and a dominant party respectively, assist us in thinking more critically about the inherent political limitations Black female candidates face when thinking about transitioning to elite level executive politics. Utilizing an intersectional framework to understand these two candidacies illustrates the current day limitations for executive level politics for Black female officeholders due to the lack of a “pipeline” to higher office.
