By Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA News Service, and
Alexis K. Barnes, Howard University News Service
(NNPA) Dr. Dorothy I. 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 (NCNW) 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 during its Black Press Week celebration. She remained hospitalized ever since and died shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Dorothy R. Leavell, NNPA Foundation chair, said in her letter to Dr. Height notifying her that the Black Press of America wished to honor her during Black Press Week, “Your leadership throughout the years is substantial and we want to show you how much we appreciate your hard work and continuing vigilance throughout your illustrious career.
Leavell said this week: “It is a deep personal loss to me, a woman I so admired and had the privilege to work with during my years as NNPA president.”
Other 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.
“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.
NNPA Chairman Danny Bakewell said Dr. Height not only affected the past, but the future of America. “This was a woman whose stature and influence and her good deeds just transcended race and she was really, truly an American icon,” he said. “Very seldom is someone who comes behind such a historical legend as Mary McCloud Bethune able to fill those shoes. Dorothy Height was not only able to fullfill her dreams, but to propell new dreams for new generations to come. And that truly is her legacy.”
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. Julianne 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, quietly, 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.”
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.”
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, all correspondents with the Howard University News Service.
