Kitchen was born in Augusta, Georgia. She graduated from Antioch University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in Human Services and attended Temple University. She received certificates in Child Care, Behavior Modification and Economic Development from Temple.[3]
She worked as a poll worker in the City of Philadelphia from 1970 to 1976, as a social worker for the County of Philadelphia and as the Director of Constituent Services for the Philadelphia City Council from 1986 to 1987.
She was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 181 in November 1987 and served through 1988.[4] She was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 3rd district in November 1996 in a special election to succeed Roxanne Jones who died in office. She served until November 2016 when she retired from the Pennsylvania State Senate.[3] She was the second African-American woman to serve in the Pennsylvania State Senate and at the time of her retirement, was the only African-American woman member of the Senate.[2]
She worked as the Manager for the Management Information Systems Department of the Philadelphia Parking Authority from 1990 to 1992 and as Director of Constituent Services for the Philadelphia City Council from 1992 to 1996.[5]
^Center, Legislativate Data Processing. "Senator Shirley M. Kitchen". The official website for the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
