Regina King stars as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress

In the Netflix movie Shirley, Regina King stars as the first Black woman to be elected to Congress.

Regina King as Shirley Chisholm

Chisholm’s story will be chronicled:

• showing her uphill battle and obstacles to win a seat in Congress as the daughter of a Barbados-born maid and a Guyanese laborer
• her struggles to navigate Congress alongside her White male colleagues
• And her groundbreaking 1972 presidential campaign

Movie production

Produced by Regina King and her sister Reina King, Shirley also stars

• the late Lance Reddick
• Lucas Hedges
• Terrence Howard
• Brian Stokes Mitchell
• Christina Jackson and more.

King, who spent 15 years producing the film, said the project was an incredible feat.

“It was always a little disheartening for Reina and I to have so many people over the years of our lives not know who Shirley Chisholm was,” King told Harper’s Bazaar.

“What she did was so pioneering. She was a true maverick and, you know, we use this term all the time, but she was a true first.”

King said they decided to release the film during an election year as they thought it would make for a more “impactful” release.

“As a team, we felt that is probably the best way we could possibly honor Shirley: to release her in a space that she created for herself.”

Regina King as Shirley Chisholm trailer

Netflix will release Shirley on March 22.