Dr. Dorothy Height: ‘God Mother’ of the Civil
Rights Movement, Dead at 98

By Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA News Service, and
Alexis K. Barnes, Howard University News Service

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Dr. Dorothy R. Height, the civil rights icon and living legend whose name has for decades been synonymous with quest for justice, died at the Howard University Hospital Tuesday morning at the age of 98.

“Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Dorothy Height - the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans,” President Obama said in a statement.

“Ever since she was denied entrance to college because the incoming class had already met its quota of two African-American women, Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality. 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,” the President said.

“And even in the final weeks of her life – a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest – Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith.”

Dr. Height, president emerita and chair of the NCNW, had long suffered with a lung ailment despite her hectic speaking schedule. She became noticeably ill March 18 while sitting in the conference room of the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women talking with her administrative assistant, Christine Tony. Tony, who has traveled with Dr. Height for the past 25 years, told NNPA that she noticed that Dr. Height had become short of breath and was not finishing her sentences.

Doctors at the Howard University Hospital admitted her to the hospital that day despite her protests that she desired to receive the esteemed Lifetime Achievers Award slated to be given to her that night from the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. She remained hospitalized ever since and died shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Civil rights leaders who awoke to the news of her death, reflected on her legacy like civil rights royalty.

“She was the Queen Mother of our whole civil rights movement,” said the Rev. Joseph Lowery. “She was the great example of intelligence, industry adventure and daring and commitment to what’s right in this country and to what’s witnessing for it. She was a great leader.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in a phone interview from South Africa, said Dr. Height’s death means as much to the world as to America. He said the news of her death had hit the people of South Africa “like a shock wave … Those who knew Dr. Height knew a century of service. She often said, 'The blood that unites us was stronger than the water that divides us,'” he said.

He reflected on how she knew and fought alongside other greats like Dr. King, Whitney Young, Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, WEB Dubois and Bayard Rustin. “What a rich life of service,” Jackson said. He noted that he would notify former South Africa President Nelson Mandela of her death.

"This is a great, great loss," said retired NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. "In standing out for the rights of women, you just go down the list and Dr. Height was there. She will be missed and missed and missed.

The Rev. Al Sharpton described her as “a true giant of a lady. She taught America what real womanhood was. And all the way to the end, she never left her post.”

Due to snow, Dr. Height as unable to attend a meeting with President Obama, Sharpton and other civil rights leaders in February. “She lectured me all the way to the door on what to say and how to say it,” Sharpton recalled. Then, she said, ‘You call me the minute you walk out of the White House’. She was that kind of fighter. And she was always there for the next generation.”

Bennett College President, Dr. Julian Malveaux, who has been mentored by Dr. Height since the age of 19 said although sexism tried to squeeze Dr. Height out of the civil rights picture, "Her legacy is a legacy of embracing struggle and understanding that there is work to do. She was the consument, ultimate organizing figure of bringing people to the table," Malveaux said. "She simply, quietlly, affectively, diligently and with dignity, did her work."

Just as a hint of her greatness, you can find a picture of Dr. Height in the National Women’s Hall of Fame tucked among the likes of Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth. Dr. Height dedicated her life to education and social activism. She has encouraged political figures such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, President Dwight Eisenhower and President Lyndon B. Johnson to create legislation and promote acts that benefited women and African-Americans. And she has had the ear of every president since then.

At 98, the civil and human rights activist was still working for a better tomorrow. “We advanced in so many ways, but at the same time the poorest seem to be poorer, and the poverty among us seems to be entrenched,” Height said in a recent interview. “However, I am always an optimist, because I have an abiding faith. I believe that somehow the right will prevail. We have to keep working. Justice is not impossible. We can achieve it.”

Height did most of her work through the NCNW. But, she also chaired the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the largest civil rights organization in the nation.

With every advancement, Height often reveled in how far African-Americans have come. “In my lifetime, I have witnessed the evolution of desegregation, the spread of civil rights and the rise of possibilities for people regardless of race and sex,” Height she said in a recent statement.

“I have also recently witnessed the passage of our health-care bill, something people of all different races and genders can applaud.”

A GIFTED STUDENT AND SPEAKER

Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Va., Height was a gifted student, winning a $1,000 scholarship after excelling in a national oratorical contest on the U.S. Constitution. Her skills awarded her entry into Barnard College, but upon arrival, Height was denied entrance into the institution. Barnard had a two African- Americans-per-academic year limit, and Height would have surpassed the quota.

Instead, Height earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years from New York University in educational psychology.

Later, she continued her education with postgraduate work at the New York School of Social Work and Columbia University, whose educational system includes Barnard and three other undergraduate schools. Height now has 36 honorary doctorates from institutions such as Howard University, Harvard University, Spellman College, Bennett College, Princeton University and Columbia.

Height began her life of public service as a New York City Welfare Department caseworker. Leading the Christian Youth Movement of North America during the New Deal era, Height worked tirelessly to prevent lynching, desegregate schools and the armed forces, reform the criminal justice system, appoint more African-American women to government positions and afford free access to public accommodations.

She served as vice president of the body and was chosen as one of 10 American youths to attend the World Conference on Life and Work of Churches in Oxford, England, and a YWCA representative at the World Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam, Holland.

The young Height’s next trip was to Hyde Park, N.Y., where she and nine other American youth spent the weekend in the home of Eleanor Roosevelt to plan the World Youth Conference to be held at Vassar College.

Height continued her life of service and her quest to improve the gender and racial gap in the nation into adulthood.

Joining Forces With Mary McLeod Bethune While serving as assistant executive director of the YWCA in Harlem, Height caught Mary McLeod Bethune’s eye as the young woman escorted Eleanor Roosevelt into a National Council for Negro Women meeting.

Bethune, NCNW founder and then president, wanted Height to volunteer with the organization and join forces in demanding equitable education, employment and pay.

Joining NCNW in 1937, Height began dedicating her time and efforts to helping improve equality among women and African Americans.

Drawing inspiration from Bethune, Height served as NCNW president for more than four decades from 1957 to 1998 eventually becoming chair and president emerita. To counter claims of the "vanishing black family," Height created the Black Family Reunion Celebration, which has offered a blend of information and entertainment nationwide for 25 years.

Present and engaged in virtually every major civil rights event, Height worked alongside such leaders as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Whitney Young, National Urban League leader.

These men were a part of the “Big Six,” which also included James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This group was essential and highly visible during the Civil Rights Movement, and some historians later expanded its title to the “Big Seven” to include Height.

Women weren’t equally accepted as civil rights leaders at the time, Height said, so if they stood with the men, they were often cut out of photos.

“I learned how to get in the middle of pictures,” she explained in a recent interview.

Height was not allowed to speak during the 1963 March on Washington because of her gender. In her 2003 memoir, "Open Wide the Freedom Gates," Height said that appeals to include a woman speaker continued until the morning of the march, but that Bayard Rustin, the coordinator and Randolph's assistant, insisted that women were already represented by the various groups and individuals on the podium.

"I was seated on the platform a little more than an arm's length from where Dr. King spoke," Height wrote. "As I looked out at that huge audience on the Washington Mall, I found it inspiring almost beyond words."

The only woman before a microphone was Mahalia Jackson, who sang the national anthem. "That moment was vital to awakening the women's movement," Height explained. "Mr. Rustin's stance showed us that men honestly didn't see their position as patriarchal or patronizing. They were happy to include women in the human family, but there was no question as to who headed the household!"

U. S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the last living of those who spoke at the March on Washington, this week recalled Dr. Height's work and legacy.

“I will never forget the Wednesdays in Mississippi program that she developed during the Civil Rights Movement to bring women of different races and faiths to the Deep South. She helped build bridges and form relationships that sensitized women in the North to the problems in the South. She also saw the need for economic empowerment and created the cooperative pig bank program, which offered rural families a chance to build greater financial security and independence. These and many other programs she develop for the last 60 years helped to change the shape of America."

ANASSET TO HUMANKIND

Honored among dignitaries and figures like President Barack Obama, Height is recognized as an undeniable asset to humankind. Because of her efforts, she was awarded the Citizens Medal Award for distinguished service by President Ronald Reagan in 1989, the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in 1993, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Additional reporting by Nicole Austin, Brittany Epps, Phillip Lucas, Melissa Montgomery and Zaria Poem