7.
When I tried to break out of that role in 1963 and run
for the New York State Assembly seat from Brooklyn's
Bedford-Stuyvesant, the resistance was bitter. From
the start of that campaign, I faced undisguised
hostility
because of my sex.
8.
But it was four years later, when I ran for Congress,
that the question of my sex became a major issue. Among
members of my own party,  closed
meetings were held to discuss ways of stopping
me.
9.
My opponent, the famous civil-rights leader James Farmer,
tried to project
a black, masculine
image; he toured the neighborhood with sound
trucks filled with young men wearing Afro
haircuts, dashikis,
and beards. While the television crews ignored me, they
were not aware of a very important statistic, which
both I and my campaign manager, Wesley MacD. Holder,
knew. In my district there are 2.5 women for every man
registered to vote. And those women are organized --
in PTAs, church societies, card clubs, and other social
and service groups. I went to them and asked their help.
Mr. Farmer still doesn't quite know what hit him.
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