Shirley Chisholm was actually the first black person to run as a candidate in either of the two parties.

Still: Bill, the King of Kableland, has a huge staff at his disposal and the entire saving account of Ailesbucks available to him, so what's his excuse for being so wrong? I thought at least everyone remembered Jesse Jackson, because he scared the Bejesus out of the GOP so badly that they purged the voter rolls after his run. How could BillO not know this? Jesse has been a guest on BillO's own show.

[oldembed src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rSYuAW2QWws" width="400" height="310" resize="1" fid="21"]

Wikipedia:

In 1888 Frederick Douglass was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention. Afterward during the roll call vote, he received one vote, so was nominally a candidate for the presidency. In those years, the candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency were chosen by state representatives voting at the nominating convention. Many decisions were made by negotiations of state and party leaders "behind closed doors." Douglass was not a serious candidate in contemporary terms.

In 1972, Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American major party candidate for president. She was a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination and participated in the Democratic primaries in numerous states.[1] She campaigned in 12 states and won 28 delegates.[2] In 1984 and 1988, Jesse Jackson was the first major party black candidate to run nationwide primary campaigns. He also ran as a Democratic Party candidate.[3]

In 1992 Alan Keyes was the first African-American candidate to run in the Republican presidential primaries.[citation needed] Keyes ran again, unsuccessfully, in 1996, 2000, and 2008. In 2004, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton ran as unsuccessful candidates in the Democratic primaries.

But you know -- being black is a real advantage when you run for president. Uh-huh.