In Memory of Dorothy Irene Height

24th March 1912–20th April 2010

Biography

Full Name:  Dorothy Irene Height
Born: 24th March 1912
Passed Away: 20th April 2010                         
Age:  98                                
Location: Washington, D.C.
Country: The United States
Spouse:  never married
Father:   James Edward Height                              
Mother:  Fannie Burroughs Height                                       
Birthplace:  Richmond, Virginia
Siblings:  older sister and six half brothers and sisters—all deceased                                                                                
Occupation:  Chair and President Emerita of the National Council of Negro Women

One of her many admirers, James Farmer, a former leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, gave her credit for bringing the women’s movement into the civil-rights struggle.   In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.   And, in 1994, President William J. Clinton bestowed on her the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.   This “mighty woman,” this “great inspiration,” this woman who moved “mountains of racial and human injustice” was none other than Dorothy Irene Height.

She was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1912.  Her father was a building contractor and her mother, a nurse.  At age 4, Height moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania, a borough of Pittsburgh,

During her elementary and high-school years, she excelled as a student.  A speech about slavery amendments to the U.S. Constitution won her a scholarship to the college of her choice.  Height enrolled in New York University, earning both a bachelor’s and a  master’s degree in four years.  After graduation, she became a caseworker for the New York Welfare Department. As an employee of this department, she also helped the city deal with the 1935 Harlem riots.  A youth representative for church and YWCA groups, she traveled and studied in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, forging bonds among women across race and class. And, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal year, she emerged as one of the leaders in the National Youth Movement.

In 1937, Height became an assistant director of the Harlem YWCA.  She developed leadership-training programs for volunteers and staff and programs promoting interracial and ecumenical education.  A staffer of the YWCA national board of the USA for 33 years (1944–1947), she held several leadership positions during this period and founded the organization’s Center for Racial Justice in 1965.  She was the center’s director until her retirement in 1977.

She was a strong advocate of volunteer work throughout her career.  Her role as a founder of the United Christian Youth Movement of North America and her role as the national president of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority from 1947 to 1956 are two such examples.  Height is further defined as a leader when one combines her volunteer spirit with her activism.  Her participation in a protest against lynching in 1936, her advocacy on behalf of Blacks to end segregation in the military and to end racial restrictions in access to public transportation and her work with voter registration drives in the South—all these exemplify a life thoroughly devoted to service and human rights.

In 1957, at age 45, she became the fourth president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and led the organization for 41 years.  In 1998, she became the NCNW chair and president emerita.  During her NCNW tenure, she fought for the rights of Black women; sought ways to strengthen Black families; combated such problems as teenage pregnancy and poor nutrition in rural areas; started the only African American private voluntary organization working in Africa; and worked for civil rights, initiating, in 1964, NCNW’s Wednesdays in Mississippi program, in which women activists from the North flew south to spend Wednesdays in small towns meeting with Black women.

We can easily remember Height as the recipient of more than 50 awards from local, state and national organizations. But she preferred that we remember something else. In 1998, she told People this:  “I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom. . . . I want to be remembered as one who tried.”   


Submitted by Shirley L. Poole, Executive Director
National Coalition of 100 Black Women