Civil Rights Legend, Dorothy Height Celebrates 98th Birthday

Lifelong civil and human rights activist Dr. Dorothy I. Height celebrates her 98th birthday today.

Dr. Height is known primarily for her decades of work with the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), an international organization that advocates for women of African descent and promotes family and community with its annual Black Family Reunion celebration. But she has served in a variety of capacities during the Civil Rights Movement, and was often the most prominent woman among the leadership of the movement.

In 1938, Dr. Height began working for the YWCA, where she coordinated several leadership development and training projects. There she gained the attention of Mary McLeod Bethune, who invited her to volunteer with NCNW, where she led initiatives like “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” a program that brought together Black and White women from the North and South for intercultural and interracial dialogue.

Dr. Height served on the national board for the YWCA from 1944 to 1977 and led the NCNW as president from 1957 to 1998. She also served as the president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. from 1947-1956.

Dr. Height currently chairs The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and is helping to lead an effort to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a practical blueprint for achieving domestic and international progress for women and girls. In 1993, she received the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award, the civil rights coalition’s highest honor.

“I am always an optimist because I have an abiding faith,” Dr. Height said. “I believe that somehow the right will prevail. We have to keep working. Justice is not impossible. We can achieve it.”