She’s The Presidential Candidate They Never Saw Coming

charlene mitchell smiling in a black and white photo
Via Wikimedia Commons
The PushBlack Team
December 4, 2022

Prior to 1968, no woman in history had their name on the general election ballot. Charlene Mitchell changed that.

Mitchell had more than race and gender stacked against her — she had her politics. Representing the Communist Party, Mitchell was determined to end capitalism and disrupt the anti-Black notion of the American Dream.

Due to America’s anti-communist voting laws, which barred known communists from voting, Mitchell wasn’t surprised that she lost the 1968 election. But the loss couldn’t stop her.

Mitchell led the Free Angela [Davis] Movement, built community with Black thought leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and Kwame Nkrumah, and traveled throughout Africa to better understand the needs of our global community.

Mitchell set the stage for future Black women leaders. Her legacy reminds us that in a world that refuses to take the struggles of Black women seriously, we’re no longer begging for attention or asking permission.

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