Dorothy Height: The ‘Godmother’ Of The Civil Rights Movement
Wikimedia CommonsDorothy Height was sometimes literally airbrushed out of photos of civil rights leaders to keep the focus of the movement on the rights of men.
When civil rights leader Dorothy Height died on April 20, 2010, President Barack Obama called her the “godmother of the civil rights movement and a hero to so many Americans.” Yet, few learn her name in school.
That’s because Height — the president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957 to 1997, a longtime executive with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), and a co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus — was often pushed to the side by male leaders in the movement.
Her stature meant that she worked with men like King, Randolph, John Lewis, and others. But they often took center stage. Height, on the other hand, was sometimes literally airbrushed out of photos to keep the focus on men.
“I was there, and I felt at home in the group,” Height said in 2003. “But I didn’t feel I should elbow myself to the front when the press focused on the male leaders.”
Wikimedia CommonsPresident Barack Obama eulogized Height as a “drum major for freedom.”
During her life, she pushed for the integration of YWCA facilities, sat by King’s side when he gave his “I Have A Dream,” speech, and rushed to the White House after King’s death to advise President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Height also worked on a smaller scale, fighting for exploited Black women in New York and setting up social programs for Black families in the South.
Later in her life, her quiet, steadfast work drew more attention. In addition to numerous honorary degrees — including one from Barnard, which once denied Height admission because they’d met their “negro quota” — Height has also been awarded the nation’s top civilian honors.
President Bill Clinton gave Height the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and President George W. Bush awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.
But Height never stopped fighting. When Obama gave her eulogy in 2010, he called her a “drum major for freedom.” The president also noted that she’d stopped by the White House to discuss issues like health care not once but 21 times.
