Dr. Dorothy Height

In his tribute President Barack Obama referred to Height as a “hero of so many Americans.” The president also said she served as the only woman at the pinnacle of the civil rights movement, “witnessing every march and milestone along the way... 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,” the president said.

Earlier this year she was among African-Americans leaders invited by the president to the White House summit on race and the economy.

Dr. Height, who served for years as the chairperson and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), was born in Richmond, Virginia.

In the 1960s she worked closely with civil rights icons like the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and current U.S. Congressional Representative John Lewis. She was called “The godmother of the civil rights movement,” and marched with King in the famous March on Washington in 1963. She was one of Dr. King’s guests on the dais when he gave the "I Have a Dream" speech.

But before civil rights fame, in 1929 she was denied entry to Barnard College, even though she was admitted to the institution. She later learned that her denial was because the school had already met its quota of two Black students for that year.

Height went on to pursue studies in educational psychology at New York University, where she earned her master’s degree in 1932.

Her civil rights work began in 1933 when she became a leader of the United Christian Youth Movement of North America. She strived to stop the practice of the lynching of Blacks, and the desegregation of the armed forces. However, she will be best remembered for her service to Black women in the NCNW, the organization she led from 1957 to 1988 and as an executive of the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) from back in the 1930s.

In 1994 Height was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton and in 2004 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.