In 2008 Barack Obama achieved the unachievable when he was elected to be the United States of America's first African-American President.  This in a country that was built on slavery and genocide!  In 2016 another unimaginable historic political milestone was reached when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in her bid to become the first female President of the United States.  This in a country where the archaic evils of sexism and gender inequality continue to thrive in the 21st Century!  Before these history makers achieved what they did, there was a person who simultaneously laid the groundwork for both.   HER name is Lenora Fulani!

She was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on April 25, 1950.  After a childhood that included losing her father at an early age, Lenora went on to receive a scholarship to Hofstra University in 1967.  Following her graduation in 1971, she went on to Master's Degree from Columbia University's Teachers College; and a PhD from City University of New York in Psychology.  Having been involved with Black Nationalist politics in college, and later working in the Black Community itself, she melded the two.  Seeing neither the Democratic or Republican Parties as true friends of the masses, she began working to empower people of color, women, and other oppressed groups through the establishment of a viable independent third party.  Dr. Fulani soon rose to leadership in the New Alliance Party, a third political party in New York that described itself as a Black-led Multiracial party.  In 1988, heading the New Alliance Party's ticket, Dr. Lenora Fulani became the first African-American and the first woman to get on the general election ballot in all fifty states during her campaign for President.  She was also the first to qualify for federal matching funds.  With Rev. Jesse Jackson having run that same year in the Democratic Primary, Dr. Fulani coined the phrase "Two Roads Are Better Than One."  Facing the entrenched two-party system with its monopoly on debates and media coverage -- as well as the her own African-American Community's self-imposed political enslavement to the Democratic Party and its candidates -- she still received over 200,000 votes.

Following the 1988 election, Dr. Fulani continued her political work and gained notable allies such as Minister Louis Farrakhan and Rev. Al Sharpton.   I myself worked with her political organization.  In 1991, when visiting New York for a meeting with a publisher, I had the pleasure of attending one of Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network rallies in Harlem (PS 175) with her.  I was also asked to serve in her honor guard when she visited the Nation of Islam in Chicago.  Regrettably I wasn't able to make it.  In 1992 she again campaigned for the Presidency unsuccessfully.  She continued her community and political work; but, years later, her support in the Black Community took a major hit when -- in her quest to establish a third party -- she briefly allied herself with Pat Buchanan during his presidential campaign.

For more on Dr. Lenora Fulani:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenora_Fulani

Books to read:

WORDS FROM AN UNCHAINED MIND

INDEPENDENT BLACK LEADERSHIP IN AMERICA

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