The sitting Republican president was unpopular and divisive. The country was a pressure cooker of partisan rage. Big names in the Democratic Party were mulling whether to jump into the presidential race: past candidates; high-powered senators; known personalities.

But then in January 1972, a political outsider announced a surprise run for the White House — upsetting the party’s power brokers and making history.

Forty-seven years ago this week, Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) announced she was seeking the Democratic 1972 nomination, becoming the first woman and first African American to run for a major political party’s presidential ticket.

“I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud,” Chisholm said in her announcement as supporters cheered. “I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I’m equally proud of that. I am not the candidate or any political bosses or fat cats or special interests. . . . I am the candidate of the people of America.”