Washington honors memory of civil rights leader Dorothy Height
By Wil Haygood/The Washington Post
"...Height, perhaps the most influential woman in the leadership of the civil rights movement, was remembered Thursday in a stirring 90-minute program at Washington National Cathedral that summoned the sometimes painful and majestic march toward equality for blacks and women in America.
"She lived to see the country change," said Olivia G. White, dean of students at Hood College in Frederick and one of the hundreds of members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority who filled the pews -- along with President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and others well known and unknown.
"She was raised in a different America, beyond the experience of many," President Obama said in his eulogy, looking out over pews filled with elderly men with canes, women in fine millinery and children holding on to the white-gloved hands of mothers. "Jim Crow ruled the South. The Ku Klux Klan was on the rise. Lynching was all too often the penalty of black skin. And slaves had been freed within living memory...."
EbonyJet Online Magazine | Black Politics & National Page By Joyce Jones/Ebonyjet
President Obama paid tribute to Dr. Dorothy Height on Thursday during a
memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral that was attended
by thousands of people who’d gathered to bid the civil rights icon a
final adieu.
Height was a “drum major” for justice and service who had
lived “a life that lifted others; a life that changed this country for
the better over the course of nearly one century here on Earth,” Obama
said. He also acknowledged the quiet and dignified perseverance Height
demonstrated as she worked behind the scenes while other leaders,
mostly men, received the recognition and fanfare.
“She never cared about who got the credit. She didn’t need
to see her picture in the papers,” Obama noted. “What she cared about
was the cause. The cause of justice, the cause of equality, the cause
of opportunity—freedom’s cause.”
The president’s 13-minute eulogy elicited laughter and
applause as he recounted the “regal” way Height wore her hats and the
21 visits she made to the White House since his election.
In February, after two feet of snow had blanketed
Washington, DC, when Height was scheduled to meet with Obama and a
group of civil rights leaders—all men--to discuss black unemployment
levels, she insisted on braving the bad weather, giving up only when
the car couldn’t get to her driveway.
Still, unwilling to let a “bunch of men” control the
agenda, Height “sent a message about what needed to be done,” the
president said. He encouraged the audience to honor Height’s life by
demonstrating a similar commitment to aiding others.
“The lesson she would want us to leave with today--a lesson
she lived out each and every day—is that we can all be first in
service,” Obama said. “We can be drum majors for a righteous cause. So
let us live out that lesson.”
In a musical tribute, BeBe Winans sang the hymn “We are
Climbing Jacob’s Ladder/Stand,” which moved Obama to tears and brought
the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others to their feet. The mezzo-soprano
Denyce Graves performed the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and the
poet Maya Angelou read Height’s favorite psalm.
The audience included average citizens, some of whom had
lined up for hours for one of the 700 general-admission tickets. Also
in attendance were members of the nation’s political elite, including
Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Majority Whip James Clyburn.
One of the most moving reflections came from former Labor
Secretary Alexis Herman who at times spoke almost in a whisper and
fought back tears as she recalled a dear friend who had been much like
a mother to her.
Even as Height was preparing family, friends and even
herself for her “final bow,” she continued to share her wisdom.
“She taught us lessons in her transition the same lessons
that she had been teaching us all of her life," said Herman. “To keep
fighting, and to never take yourself out of the game.”
Ebonyjet Arts and Culture
President Obama’s Eulogy for Dorothy Height
"April 29, 2010
We are gathered here today to celebrate the life, and mourn the passing, of Dr. Dorothy Height. It is fitting that we do so here, in our National Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Here, in a place of great honor. Here, in the House of God. Surrounded by the love of family and of friends. The love in this sanctuary is a testament to a life lived righteously; a life that lifted other lives; a life that changed this country for the better over the course of nearly one century here on Earth.
Michelle and I didn’t know Dr. Height as well, or as long, as many of you. We were reminded during a previous moment in the service, when you have a nephew who’s 88 -- (laughter) -- you’ve lived a full life. (Applause.)
But we did come to know her in the early days of my campaign. And we came to love her, as so many loved her. We came to love her stories. And we loved her smile. And we loved those hats -- (laughter) -- that she wore like a crown -- regal. In the White House, she was a regular. She came by not once, not twice -- 21 times she stopped by the White House. (Laughter and applause.) Took part in our discussions around health care reform in her final months.
Last February, I was scheduled to see her and other civil rights leaders to discuss the pressing problems of unemployment -- Reverend Sharpton, Ben Jealous of the NAACP, Marc Morial of the National Urban League. Then we discovered that Washington was about to be blanketed by the worst blizzard in record -- two feet of snow.
So I suggested to one of my aides, we should call Dr. Height and say we're happy to reschedule the meeting. Certainly if the others come, she should not feel obliged. True to form, Dr. Height insisted on coming, despite the blizzard, never mind that she was in a wheelchair. She was not about to let just a bunch of men -- (laughter) -- in this meeting. (Applause.) It was only when the car literally could not get to her driveway that she reluctantly decided to stay home.But she still sent a message -- (laughter) -- about what needed to be done.
And I tell that story partly because it brings a smile to my face, but also because it captures the quiet, dogged, dignified persistence that all of us who loved Dr. Height came to know so well -- an attribute that we understand she learned early on.
Born in the capital of the old Confederacy, brought north by her parents as part of that great migration, Dr. Height was raised in another age, in a different America, beyond the experience of many. It’s hard to imagine, I think, life in the first decades of that last century when the elderly woman that we knew was only a girl. Jim Crow ruled the South. The Klan was on the rise -- a powerful political force. Lynching was all too often the penalty for the offense of black skin. Slaves had been freed within living memory, but too often, their children, their grandchildren remained captive, because they were denied justice and denied equality, denied opportunity, denied a chance to pursue their dreams.
The progress that followed -- progress that so many of you helped to achieve, progress that ultimately made it possible for Michelle and me to be here as President and First Lady -- that progress came slowly. (Applause.)
Progress came from the collective effort of multiple generations of Americans. From preachers and lawyers, and thinkers and doers, men and women like Dr. Height, who took it upon themselves -- often at great risk -- to change this country for the better. From men like W.E.B Du Bois and A. Philip Randolph; women like Mary McLeod Bethune and Betty Friedan -- they’re Americans whose names we know. They are leaders whose legacies we teach. They are giants who fill our history books. Well, Dr. Dorothy Height deserves a place in this pantheon. She, too, deserves a place in our history books. (Applause.) She, too, deserves a place of honor in America’s memory.
Look at her body of work. Desegregating the YWCA. Laying the groundwork for integration on Wednesdays in Mississippi. Lending pigs to poor farmers as a sustainable source of income. Strategizing with civil rights leaders, holding her own, the only woman in the room, Queen Esther to this Moses Generation -- even as she led the National Council of Negro Women with vision and energy -- (applause) -- with vision and energy, vision and class.
But we remember her not solely for all she did during the civil rights movement. We remember her for all she did over a lifetime, behind the scenes, to broaden the movement’s reach. To shine a light on stable families and tight-knit communities. To make us see the drive for civil rights and women’s rights not as a separate struggle, but as part of a larger movement to secure the rights of all humanity, regardless of gender, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity.
It’s an unambiguous record of righteous work, worthy of remembrance, worthy of recognition. And yet, one of the ironies is, is that year after year, decade in, decade out, Dr. Height went about her work quietly, without fanfare, without self-promotion. She never cared about who got the credit. She didn’t need to see her picture in the papers. She understood that the movement gathered strength from the bottom up, those unheralded men and women who don't always make it into the history books but who steadily insisted on their dignity, on their manhood and womanhood. (Applause.) She wasn’t interested in credit. What she cared about was the cause. The cause of justice. The cause of equality. The cause of opportunity. Freedom’s cause.
And that willingness to subsume herself, that humility and that grace, is why we honor Dr. Dorothy Height. As it is written in the Gospel of Matthew: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” I don’t think the author of the Gospel would mind me rephrasing: “whoever humbles herself will be exalted.” (Applause.)
One of my favorite moments with Dr. Height -- this was just a few months ago -- we had decided to put up the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office, and we invited some elders to share reflections of the movement. And she came and it was a inter-generational event, so we had young children there, as well as elders, and the elders were asked to share stories. And she talked about attending a dinner in the 1940s at the home of Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College. And seated at the table that evening was a 15-year-old student, “a gifted child,” as she described him, filled with a sense of purpose, who was trying to decide whether to enter medicine, or law, or the ministry.
And many years later, after that gifted child had become a gifted preacher -- I’m sure he had been told to be on his best behavior -- after he led a bus boycott in Montgomery, and inspired a nation with his dreams, he delivered a sermon on what he called “the drum major instinct” -- a sermon that said we all have the desire to be first, we all want to be at the front of the line.
The great test of a life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, is to harness that instinct; to redirect it towards advancing the greater good; toward changing a community and a country for the better; toward doing the Lord’s work.
I sometimes think Dr. King must have had Dorothy Height in mind when he gave that speech. For Dorothy Height met the test. Dorothy Height embodied that instinct. Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice. A drum major for equality. A drum major for freedom. A drum major for service. And the lesson she would want us to leave with today -- a lesson she lived out each and every day -- is that we can all be first in service. We can all be drum majors for a righteous cause. So let us live out that lesson. Let us honor her life by changing this country for the better as long as we are blessed to live. May God bless Dr. Dorothy Height and the union that she made more perfect."
A Tribute to Dorothy Height | Pamela on Politics | BET.com
Dorothy Height’s Indelible Imprint on Black America
Dorothy Height’s Final Farewell | Pamela on Politics | BET.com
Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Height Dies at 98
As there is no recent information about Dr. Height available in Germany we have decided to publish the complete article from Tanu Henry (News you should know/ BET.com). Thank you very much!
D.C. Begins to Mourn Dorothy Height; BET Will Air and Stream Service | News You Should Know | BET.com
by Tanu Henry
April 28th, 2010
Tomorrow, Dorothy Height’s official funeral service will be held in Washington, D.C. at the National Cathedral on Wisconsin Avenue at 10 a.m.
Friends, family, colleagues and other mourners have already begun to pay their respects all around the city, though. Last night, her organization, the National Council of Negro Women, hosted a service to celebrate the life of the civil rights icon at its headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
President Obama has issued a proclamation ordering flags to fly at half-staff at all public buildings and he will deliver Heights’ eulogy.
BET Networks will air the service live on BET and Centric beginning at 10 a.m. ET/ 9c. BET.com will also feature a live video stream of Height’s funeral service online.
See a few of the pictures below.
Former D.C. Mayor and City Councilman Marion Barry signs the guest book at the National Council of Negro Women yesterday.
Ladies of the National Council of Negro Women gather outside the downtown Washington headquarters for the arrival of the body of Dorothy Height.
<Deltas Converge at Howard U. to Honor Height
Hooks and Height: Jeff Johnson Honors Two Civil Rights Heroes | Jeffs Nation Blog
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