Dorothy I. Height, African American administrator, educator and civil rights stalwart, died early this morning after a long hospital stay in Washington, D.C. She was 98 years.
Born on March 24, 1912, Height started working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department and, at the age of twenty-five, she began a career as a civil rights activist when she joined the National Council of Negro Women. She fought for equal rights for both African Americans and women, and in 1944 she joined the national staff of the YWCA.
In 1957, Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held until 1997. During the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Height organized “Wednesdays in Mississippi”, which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding. American leaders regularly took her counsel, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Height also encouraged President Dwight D. Eisenhower to desegregate schools and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint African American women to positions in government.
Height served on a number of committees, including as a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State, the President’s Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the President’s Committee on the Status of Women.
In 1994, Height received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton.
Dr. Height was the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the largest civil rights organization in the USA. She was an honored guest and seated among the dignitaries at the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
Despite her age she still personally attended the National Black Family Reunion, celebrated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., every year.
President Obama on learning of Dr. Height’s passing said he was saddened, describing her as “the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans.
“Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality,” Obama said. “She led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, and served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil Rights Movement – witnessing every march and milestone along the way.”
