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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the lesser known

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Speaker 1: heroes of history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're celebrating

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Speaker 1: the life of Dorothy Height, a beloved figure of the

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Speaker 1: civil rights movement known for her charm, intelligence, leadership, and

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Speaker 1: fine taste in heads. The day was March twelve. Civil

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Speaker 1: rights leader Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia. She

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Speaker 1: grew up to be one of the most influential women

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Speaker 1: of the modern civil rights movement, but her role in

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Speaker 1: the fight for social justice was often overshadowed by her

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Speaker 1: male contemporaries. Her name may not be as well known

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Speaker 1: as theirs, but her dedication to making the United States

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Speaker 1: some more open and inclusive place for everyone was unprecedented.

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Speaker 1: Height once said greatness is not measured by what a

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Speaker 1: man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or

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Speaker 1: she has overcome to reach his goals. Dorothy Irene Height

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Speaker 1: had plenty of opposition to overcome on her own road

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Speaker 1: to greatness. As a child, she was diagnosed with severe

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Speaker 1: asthma and told that she likely wouldn't live past age sixteen.

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Speaker 1: She beat those odds, though, and made it through high

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Speaker 1: school alive and well. Along the way, she and her

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Speaker 1: family had moved north to rank in Pennsylvania, not far

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Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh. There, Height attended and integrated public school and

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Speaker 1: quickly developed a passion for civil rights work. As a teenager,

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Speaker 1: she volunteered for campaigns against lynching and in support of

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Speaker 1: voting rights. She attended numerous marches and discovered she had

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Speaker 1: a natural gift for Speechmaking Her way with words later

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Speaker 1: earned her the top spot in an national oratorical contest,

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Speaker 1: along with a scholarship to Barnard College. Unfortunately, when she

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Speaker 1: tried to enroll after graduating high school, she was turned away.

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Speaker 1: The college said that it had already admitted two black

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Speaker 1: female students that year, which meant that its quota had

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Speaker 1: been filled. Height decided not to waste a year waiting

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Speaker 1: for another shot at one of only two spots at Barnard. Instead,

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Speaker 1: she attended New York University, where she earned her bachelor's

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Speaker 1: degree in education in n At Columbia University, she earned

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Speaker 1: a master's in educational psychology two years later. She also

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Speaker 1: did postgraduate studies at the New York School of Social

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Speaker 1: Work and continued to push for criminal justice reform and

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Speaker 1: women's rights. After college, Height became a teacher at the

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Speaker 1: Brownsville Community Center in Brooklyn, and later took a job

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Speaker 1: as a case worker for the city's welfare department. In

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Speaker 1: the late nineteenth eties, she became the assistant executive director

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Speaker 1: of Harlem's Young Women's Club of America or y w

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Speaker 1: c A. Not long into her tenure, First Lady Eleanor

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Speaker 1: Roosevelt came to town to attend a meeting of the

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Speaker 1: National Council of Negro Women. Height was chosen to escort

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Speaker 1: the First Lady to the meeting, and once there, she

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Speaker 1: caught the attention of Mary McLeod Bethune, the Council's founder.

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Speaker 1: After the meeting, Bethune asked Height to join the group

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Speaker 1: in their fight for women's equality. As always, Height jumped

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Speaker 1: at the chance to volunteer, and later went on to

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Speaker 1: work with the organization for nearly forty years, including as

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Speaker 1: its president for much of that time. She also served

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Speaker 1: on the national board of the y w c A.

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Speaker 1: In ninety six, she helped oversee the desegregation of all

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Speaker 1: the Wise facilities nationwide, and in nineteen sixty five, she

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Speaker 1: founded the Wise Center for Racial Justice, which she led

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Speaker 1: herself for the next twelve years. Dorothy heights work for

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Speaker 1: those two organizations reflected a belief that wasn't shared by

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Speaker 1: many of her contemporaries. Historically, the Black civil rights movement

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Speaker 1: and the women's civil rights movement didn't have much overlap,

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Speaker 1: and each groups struggle for equality was considered its own

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Speaker 1: separate issue. However, Dorothy Height believed the struggles were deeply

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Speaker 1: connected parts of the same overarching problem. Black men and

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Speaker 1: women of all races were marginalized in America, and black

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Speaker 1: women doubly so. As a Black woman herself, Dorothy Height

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Speaker 1: knew that all too well. Despite her best efforts to

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Speaker 1: unite the movements, though they largely remained only reluctant allies.

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Speaker 1: This left Height somewhere in the middle, sidelined by much

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Speaker 1: of the women's movement because of her race and by

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Speaker 1: much of the Black movement because of her sex. However,

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Speaker 1: the lack of a spotlight never weak and her resolve,

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Speaker 1: and she eventually took her place at the highest levels

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Speaker 1: of the civil rights movement, right alongside the so called

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Speaker 1: Big Six that would be James Farmer, John Lewis, a

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Speaker 1: Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Martin Luther King Jr.

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Speaker 1: Although at least one member of the Big Six, James

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Speaker 1: Farmer considered Dorothy Height to be the group's true six,

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Speaker 1: the member rather than a Philip Randolph. At any rate,

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Speaker 1: Height was the only woman on the speakers platform when

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Speaker 1: MLK delivered his I Have a Dream speech at the

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three March on Washington. Although she had been

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Speaker 1: instrumental in planning the event and was a prize winning

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Speaker 1: orator herself, she was not given the chance to speak

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Speaker 1: that day. Height reflected on the experience in a two

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Speaker 1: thousand three interview for NPR. She said, quote, my being

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Speaker 1: seated there had some very special meaning because women had

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Speaker 1: been trying to get a woman to speak on the program,

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Speaker 1: but we were always met by the planners with the

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Speaker 1: idea that women were represented in all of the different groups,

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Speaker 1: in the churches, in the synagogues, in the unions, organizations,

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Speaker 1: and the like. So the only voice we heard of

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Speaker 1: a woman from the podium was that of Mahalia Jackson,

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Speaker 1: a gospel singer. That was a diplomatic response, but by

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Speaker 1: all accounts, Dorothy Height really was more concerned with the

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Speaker 1: collective struggle than she was with personal glory. In another

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Speaker 1: two thousand three interview, she told the Sacramento b quote,

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Speaker 1: I was there, and I felt at home in the group,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't feel I should elbow myself to the

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Speaker 1: front when the press focused on the male leaders. Once again,

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Speaker 1: her service, her mission was what mattered. She continued it

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Speaker 1: through the nineteen seventies and eighties by establishing self help

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Speaker 1: assistance programs through the n c n W. She once said, quote,

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Speaker 1: we are not a problem people. We are a people

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Speaker 1: with problems. We have historic strengths. We have survived because

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Speaker 1: of family. With that in mind, Height launched a series

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Speaker 1: of Black Family reunions in the mid nineteen eighties, held

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Speaker 1: in cities across the country. The events were large scale

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Speaker 1: celebrations of African American history, culture, and traditions. Hundreds of

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Speaker 1: thousands of people attended the gatherings, helping to foster deeper

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Speaker 1: bonds in their communities. Humility and selflessness are admirable qualities,

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Speaker 1: ones that Dorothy Height had in spades. But sometimes you

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Speaker 1: really just want to see a person get the recognition

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Speaker 1: they deserve, and thankfully Dorothy eventually did in President Bill

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Speaker 1: Clinton Presentator with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's

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Speaker 1: highest civilian honor. She received numerous other awards and accolades

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Speaker 1: as well, including about three dozen honorary doctorate degrees from

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Speaker 1: esteemed schools such as Tuskegee, Princeton, and Harvard. However, the

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Speaker 1: academic honor that likely held the most meaning was a

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Speaker 1: far less prestigious degree that was awarded to her in

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Speaker 1: two thousand four. It was an honorary bachelor's from Barnard College,

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Speaker 1: the same institution that had turned her away seventy five

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Speaker 1: years earlier. True to her character, Height continued to fight

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Speaker 1: for equality right up until the end of her life.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, just two years before her death,

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Speaker 1: she was looking ahead to the future of the civil

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Speaker 1: rights movement. She outlined the next steps, saying, quote, we

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Speaker 1: don't need the marches we had in the past, but

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Speaker 1: we need more consideration and looking at the boardroom tables

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Speaker 1: and at the policies that are going on, looking at

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Speaker 1: what's happening in industry, what's happening in terms of employment, opportunities, housing,

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Speaker 1: and the like. Dorothy Height passed away in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: On April at the age of ninety eight. President Barack

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Speaker 1: Obama remarked on her passing, describing her as quote the

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Speaker 1: godmother of the civil rights movement and a hero to

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Speaker 1: so many Americans. It was a fitting tribute and a

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Speaker 1: well earned title, but Dorothy liked to frame her legacy

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Speaker 1: as something more approachable, something that any member of society

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Speaker 1: could aspire to themselves. She said, quote, I want to

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Speaker 1: be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she

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Speaker 1: could touch to work for justice and freedom. I want

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Speaker 1: to be remembered as one who tried. I'm Gabe Lucier

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more

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Speaker 1: about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

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Speaker 1: at t d i HC Show, and if you have

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Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, you can send them my way

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Speaker 1: at this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler Mains for producing the show, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: another Day in History. Class m