1972 . Wright was a 54-year-old grandmother who was born in Tulsa , in 1921 , shortly after a White mob destroyed that city ’ s Black community . It was one of the 20th century ’ s worst racial conflicts .
During World War II , Wright was a riveter in a Los Angeles shipyard – a job that immortalized her work in the movie , “ The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter .” Wright spent much of her adult life as a community activist and served for a time as the Black Panther Party ’ s minister of education . The first time she was arrested during a civil rights protest her three grandchildren came to court wearing “ Free Grandma ” buttons .
“ I ’ ve been discriminated against because I am a woman , because I am Black , because I am poor , because I am fat , because I am left-handed ,” Wright said when she accepted the People ’ s Party presidential nomination in August 1976 . Wright appeared on the ballot in six states and garnered 49,016 votes . Jimmy Carter won the presidency that year with nearly 41 million votes .
Wright died in 1996 at age 74 .
Lenora Fulani ran for president on the New Alliance Party ticket in 1988 and became the first Black woman to get her name on the ballot in all 50 states . She called for universal healthcare , free university education and regulation of big banks and won more than 250,000 votes .
Encouraged by this showing , Fulani ran again in 1992 with a platform sharply critical of the limitations imposed on democracy by the nation ’ s two-party system . While she suffered another resounding defeat , her call for universal health care , free higher education and tighter regulation of big banks have since become mainstream political issues .
Fulani , now 74 , remains politically active and is a psychotherapist in Pennsylvania .
Isabel Masters started her own political party , called “ Looking Back ,” and ran for president in 1984 , 1988 , 1992 , 1996 , 2000 and 2004 . Three times she campaigned for the White House with one of her six children as her running mate ( Walter Ray Masters in 1992 , Shirley Jean Masters in 1996 and Alfreda Masters in 2000 ). Another daughter , Cora Masters , married Marion Barry , the former civil rights activist and four-term mayor of Washington , D . C .
When asked during a C-SPAN interview what qualified her for the presidency , Masters pointed to the service of her husband , Alfred Masters , who was the first Black in the U . S . Marine Corps , and what she said was “ a calling from God ” as her qualification . Masters ’ six presidential campaigns are the most for any woman in U . S . history .
She died at age 98 on September 12 , 2011 .
In 2000 , Angel Joy Chavis Rocker became the first Black woman to seek the Republican Party ’ s presidential nomination . “ We need to recruit a new breed of Republican ,” Rocker said at the time . “ My candidacy will force the
Republican Party to look at itself and decide if it is a ‘ big tent ’ or not . Her campaign – and her life – were short lived .
Rocker , a high school guidance counselor , died February 25 , 2003 , at age 36 .
In 1992 , Carol Moseley Braun , D-Illinois , became the first black woman elected to the U . S . Senate . Twelve years later , she sought the Democratic Party ’ s presidential nomination .
In her brief campaign , she advocated for a single-payer healthcare system and called for a reversal of cuts to childcare and education funding made during the George W . Bush presidency . She was especially critical of an expanded “ war on terrorism ” that she feared would result in a loss of civil liberties among Americans .
But Braun had difficulty raising money and with Black activist Al Sharpton also in the running for the Democratic nomination that year , she had trouble garnering Black support . After a third place showing in the D . C . primary , behind Sharpton , Braun dropped out of the race .
Braun currently chairs the United States African Development Foundation .
Cynthia McKinney was a six-term Democratic congresswoman from Georgia when she ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2008 . It was an ill-fated campaign that critics say was undermined by her penchant for conspiracy theories . Whatever the case , McKinney managed to get just 161,797 of the 131 million votes cast in the 2008 presidential election .
Monica Moorehead was a three-time candidate for president . She ran in 1996 , 2000 , and 2016 as the standard bearer of the Workers World Party ’ s .
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