Ayanna Pressley is 'humbled' to be getting the former office of her congressional 'shero'

As part of the Women’s Wave, Rep.-elect Ayanna Pressley broke “concrete” ceilings to become the first black woman to represent the state of Massachusetts in Congress. Now, she will continue her trailblazing journey in a congressional office with a pioneering history of its own.

Pressley announced that she will be working in the same office once occupied by her “shero,” former New York Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.

“Shirley Chisholm has been a shero of mine since I was a girl. Her commitment to fighting injustice and lifting up the voices of the disenfranchised is an inspiration and an example I hope to follow,” Pressley told Makers in a statement. “I am humbled to occupy the same space she did on Capitol Hill, and I am deeply thankful to my colleague, Congresswoman-elect Katie Hill of California, for so graciously offering to switch offices.”

Congressional offices are doled out to new representatives through a high-stakes office lottery. Pressley had her heart set on Chisholm’s office, but her chances of nabbing it were dismal when she drew no. 37. However, fellow Rep.-elect Katie Hill, D-Calif., who drew no. 7, swapped lottery numbers with Pressley.

“Shirley Chisholm was always so clear that women supporting women would move our politics forward. That is more true now than ever before,” Hill tells Makers. “In fact, the success of our freshman class depends on it. I am so excited to work with Ayanna from right down the hall in Longworth 1130. I know that together, we will accomplish great things.”

Pressley has credited Chisholm with paving the way for her own political success and that of other women of color running for office.

Chisholm, who was elected in 1968, went on to serve seven consecutive terms in Congress and became the first black woman to make a presidential bid with a major party. Her largely symbolic Democratic bid featured the slogan “Unbought and Unbossed.”

“I want history to remember me … not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself,” Chisholm said of her legacy, prior to her death in 2005. “I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.”

Now, Pressley is ready to build on Chisholm’s unparalleled work alongside a freshman — or shall we say freshwoman — class of representatives filled with historic firsts and diversity. That includes the first Muslim women (Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib) and the first Native American women (Debra Haaland and Sharice Davids), who along with Pressley will be just a few of the faces making Congress a little less male and a little less pale.

“I know for a fact none of us ran to make history,” said Pressley. “We ran to make change.”