Dorothy Height was a civil rights and women’s rights activist focused primarily on improving the circumstances and opportunities for African American women.
She was born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia and died on April 20, 2010, in Washington, D.C. She was a widely respected and influential leader of organizations focused primarily on improving the circumstances and opportunities for African American women.
Dorothy Height was involved in social service for some six decades. She served four terms as president of the National Council of Negro Women. In the 1970s she helped the NCNW win grants to provide vocational training and assist women in opening businesses.
Height went on to use her position to urge the black community to become more self-reliant, emphasizing in the 1990s the importance of attracting young people to the organization to join in the fight against drugs, illiteracy, and unemployment.
She also participated on governmental committees dealing with women’s concerns at the local, state, and federal levels as a social services expert. She helped secure funds for the NCNW’s national offices in the historic Sears House in Washington, D.C., where the organization also housed its Dorothy I. Height Leadership Institute, before retiring in 1996. Among the many awards she has received are the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2004).
Dorothy Height was one of the organizers of the historic March on Washington in 1963. When Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” address, she stood close to him. Height was not invited to speak that day, despite her abilities as a speaker and leader.
Height later said that her experience at the March on Washington was eye-opening. According to the Los Angeles Times, her male colleagues “were glad to have women in the human family, but there was no question who headed the household.”
Height later joined the women’s rights movement. She joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Shirley Chisholm in founding the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971.
She continued to head the NCNW for another two decades after retiring from the YWCA in 1977. One of her later endeavours was on bolstering African American families. Height arranged the first Black Family Reunion in 1986, which is still held every year as a celebration of traditions and values.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also called “the godmother of the civil rights movement” by Barack Obama. In 2002, she turned her 90th birthday celebration into a fundraiser for the NCNW.
On February 1, 2017, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Dorothy Height Forever stamp honouring her civil rights legacy. Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among the many who mourned the passing of the famed champion for equality and justice.
While most are familiar with the men involved with the Civil Rights Movement, the roles of women were instrumental in the movement’s successes.
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