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{{Infobox Biography
|subject_name=Dorothy I. Height|120px
|image_name= DorothyHeight_Book_Nordstrom_VA_15feb97.jpg
|image_caption= Dorothy Irene Height
|date_of_birth=[[March 24]], [[1912]]
|place_of_birth=[[Richmond, Virginia]] {{USA}}
|date_of_death=
|place_of_death=
}}
'''Dorothy Irene Height''' (born [[March 24]], [[1912]]) is an [[African American]] [[Public administration|administrator]], [[educator]], social [[Activism|activist]], and a recipient of the [[Congressional Gold Medal]].
Height was born in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. At an early age, she moved with her family to [[Rankin, Pennsylvania]]. While in high school, Height was awarded a scholarship to [[Barnard College]] for her oratory skills, but upon arrival was denied entrance. (At the time, Barnard admitted only two African Americans per academic year and Dorothy had arrived after the other two admittees.) Years later, at its [[1980]] commencement ceremonies, the college awarded Height its highest honor, the [[List_of_Barnard_College_people#Recipients_of_the_Medal_of_Distinction|
Barnard Medal of Distinction]]. She later pursued studies at [[New York University]], where she earned her Master's Degree in psychology.
Height started working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department, but at the age of twenty-five, she began her [[civil rights]] activist's career when she joined the [[National Council of Negro Women]]. She fought for equal rights for both African Americans and women, and in [[1944]] she joined the national staff of the [[YWCA]]. She served as National President of [[Delta Sigma Theta]], Incorporated from 1946-1957.
She remained active with the organization until [[1977]], and while there she developed leadership training programs and interracial and ecumenical education programs. In [[1957]], Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held until [[1997]]. During the height of the [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|civil rights movement]] of the 1960s, Height organized "[[Wednesdays in Mississippi]]", which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding. American leaders regularly took her counsel, including [[First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], and Height also encouraged [[President of the United States|President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] to desegregate schools and President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] to appoint African American women to positions in government.
[[Image:dorothyheight.jpg|left|thumb|225px|Dorothy Height]] Height has served on a number of committees, including as a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State, the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the President's Committee on the Status of Women. She has received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the ''[[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] [[Freedom From Want Award]]'' and the [[Spingarn Medal]] from the [[NAACP]]. She has also been inducted into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]].
In [[2004]], she was awarded the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] by President [[George W. Bush]] on behalf of the [[United States Congress]].
Dr. Height is currently, at age 95, the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the [[Leadership Conference on Civil Rights]], the largest civil rights organization in the USA.
The musical stageplay ''If This Hat Could Talk'', based on her memoirs "Open Wide The Freedom Gates", opened in the summer of 2005 and is currently on tour. It showcases her unique perspective on the civil rights movement and details many of the behind-the-scenes figures/mentors who shaped her life, including [[Mary McLeod Bethune]] and [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].
==References==
*Height, Dorothy. ''Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir.''
[[Category:1912 births|Height, Dorothy]]
[[Category:Living people|Height, Dorothy]]
[[Category:African Americans|Height, Dorothy]]
[[Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients|Height, Dorothy]]
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