FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 20, 2010
Contact: Maggie Kao, 202.466.2735
Statement by Wade Henderson on the Death of Civil Rights Legend, Dr. Dorothy I. Height
“It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the passing of our chairperson, Dr. Dorothy I. Height. For the past seven decades, her work and her wisdom have enriched and ennobled the civil rights movement and our nation.
Dr. Height has been an extraordinary leader, a gifted organizer, a trusted adviser, and a shrewd strategist from the days of the New Deal to these times of the Raw Deal for so many Americans. She was at every important meeting, participated in every historic struggle, and advised major national leaders from Eleanor Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Indeed, her biography is intertwined with the most significant moments of the modern civil rights movement. If Rosa Parks is the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, then Dr. Height is its Queen.
On a personal note, I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Height for more than 20 years. Her wise counsel, political acumen, and pragmatic idealism were, quite simply, invaluable. She was active in the work of The Leadership Conference right up until it was just physically impossible for her to do so, most recently, serving as honorary co-chair of our campaign to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
If, as the saying goes, service is the rent we pay for living, then Dr. Height is paid in full, many times over – and she has paid the tab for many of us as well.
It is an honor and a blessing to have known her."
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Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
Showing posts with label Dorothy Height. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dorothy Height. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
AAAA Mourns the Passing of Dorothy I. Height
For Immediate Release Contact: Shirley J. Wilcher
April 20, 2010 202-349-9855
American Association for Affirmative Action
Mourns the Passing of Dorothy I. Height
“Champion of Equal Opportunity and the Empowerment of All Women”
Washington, D.C. – April 20, 2010 - The American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), a national membership organization of equal employment opportunity (EEO), affirmative action and diversity specialists, mourns the passing of Dorothy I. Height, four-decades long president of the National Council of Negro Women and an icon of the civil rights movement. She was 98 years old. AAAA President ReNeé S. Dunman said: “For more than half a century, Dorothy Irene Height was the quintessential women’s rights and civil rights advocate. She stood with the great ones, including A. Philip Randolph, Whitney Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Dr. Height was inspired by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her mentor was the late Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
“Dr. Dorothy Height was an advisor of presidents and a tireless advocate for equal opportunity, both domestically and internationally,” added Ms. Dunman. Dorothy Height, called the “godmother of the women’s movement,” dedicated her life to service and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2002. She was also the recipient of thirty-six honorary doctorate degrees.
Dorothy Height graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree. She also did postgraduate work at Columbia University and the New School of Social Work. Dr. Height was denied admission to Barnard College reportedly because it had reached its quota of black women. “With the loss of Dr. Benjamin Hooks, former president of the NAACP, we have lost two civil rights giants within one week,” stated Ms. Dunman.
As we go forward, we will always remember Dr. Dorothy Height’s call to action: “If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."
Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. AAAA helps its members to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action to enhance access and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.
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888 16th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006
http://www.affirmativeaction.org/
April 20, 2010 202-349-9855
American Association for Affirmative Action
Mourns the Passing of Dorothy I. Height
“Champion of Equal Opportunity and the Empowerment of All Women”
Washington, D.C. – April 20, 2010 - The American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), a national membership organization of equal employment opportunity (EEO), affirmative action and diversity specialists, mourns the passing of Dorothy I. Height, four-decades long president of the National Council of Negro Women and an icon of the civil rights movement. She was 98 years old. AAAA President ReNeé S. Dunman said: “For more than half a century, Dorothy Irene Height was the quintessential women’s rights and civil rights advocate. She stood with the great ones, including A. Philip Randolph, Whitney Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Dr. Height was inspired by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her mentor was the late Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.
“Dr. Dorothy Height was an advisor of presidents and a tireless advocate for equal opportunity, both domestically and internationally,” added Ms. Dunman. Dorothy Height, called the “godmother of the women’s movement,” dedicated her life to service and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2002. She was also the recipient of thirty-six honorary doctorate degrees.
Dorothy Height graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree. She also did postgraduate work at Columbia University and the New School of Social Work. Dr. Height was denied admission to Barnard College reportedly because it had reached its quota of black women. “With the loss of Dr. Benjamin Hooks, former president of the NAACP, we have lost two civil rights giants within one week,” stated Ms. Dunman.
As we go forward, we will always remember Dr. Dorothy Height’s call to action: “If the time is not ripe, we have to ripen the time."
Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. AAAA helps its members to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action to enhance access and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.
####
888 16th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006
http://www.affirmativeaction.org/
Dorothy I. Height, founding matriarch of civil rights movement, dies at 98
The Washington Post
By Bart Barnes Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 20, 2010; 7:34 AM
Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died early Tuesday morning of natural causes, a spokesperson for the National Council of Negro Women said.
Ms. Height was among the coalition of African American leaders who pushed civil rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations in the 1950s and 1960s.
She died at 3:41 a.m. at Howard University Hospital, a spokesman there said.
She died at 3:41 a.m. at Howard University Hospital, a spokesman there said.
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