Lenora Branch Fulani

Background

Fulani was born April 25, 1950 in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Education

She graduated from Hofstra University in 1971, earned a master's degree from Columbia University's Teachers College, and earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the City University of New York (CUNY).

Career

She was a guest researcher at Rockefeller University from 1973 to 1977. While in college, she became involved in black nationalist politics and during her studies at City University became interested in the work of Fred Newman and Lois Holzman, who had recently formed the New York Institute for Social Therapy and Research. Fulani studied at the institute in the early 1980s.

In 1982 Fulani ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of New York on the New Alliance Party (NAP) ticket. She ran for president in 1988 as the nominee for the NAP and received almost a quarter of a million votes (0.2%). She was the first African-American independent and the first female presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 states. In 1990, she ran for governor of New York as the candidate of the NAP. In 1992, Fulani again ran as the New Alliance candidate for president.

In 1992 Fulani self-published her autobiography, "The Making of a Fringe Candidate 1992."

Achievements

• In the United States presidential election, 1988 heading the New Alliance Party ticket, she became the first woman and the first African American to achieve ballot access in all fifty states. She received more votes for President in a U.S. general election than any other woman in history until Jill Stein of the Green Party of the United States in 2012.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Psychopathology of Everyday Racism and Sexism (Women & Therapy Series)
  • When Democracy Is On the Job, America Works

Politics

In 1993, Fulani joined activists who supported Ross Perot for President in the United States presidential election, 1992, in a national effort to create a new pro-reform party. In 1994 she led the formation of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP). For years Fulani was active with Newman's version of the International Workers Party (IWP). More recently she has been active with the Independence Party of New York, which was founded in Rochester in 1991.

Views

Fulani's political concerns include racial equality, gay rights and for the past decade, political reform, specifically to encourage third parties.

References

• The Making of a Fringe Candidate