[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S2017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       TRIBUTE TO DOROTHY HEIGHT

 Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, today I celebrate the 98th birthday 
of a true civil rights pioneer and social activist: Dorothy Height.
  She began her career in the 1930s, as a teacher in Brooklyn, NY. 
Shortly after it was founded, she became active in the United Christian 
Youth Movement.
  It was this cause that would first carry her to national leadership, 
though she was quite a young woman at the time.
  In 1938, Dorothy was selected by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to help 
plan a World Youth Conference, and later served as a delegate to the 
World Conference on Life and Work of the Churches.
  The same year, she was hired by the YWCA, and quickly began to rise 
through the ranks of the national organization.
  And it was also around this time that she caught the attention of 
Mary McLeod Bethune, founder and president of the National Council of 
Negro Women, or NCNW, who recruited young Dorothy to join the fight for 
women's rights.
  She remained deeply involved in the YWCA, and also attained high 
leadership positions in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the United 
Civil Rights Leadership, and a number of other organizations.
  She helped to guide these pivotal groups through the stormy waters of 
the civil rights movement, looking always to the future, and 
maintaining a steadfast dedication to cause and principle.
  But it was Dorothy's distinguished leadership of the NCNW that would 
come to define her career.
  In 1957, Dorothy Height was elected fourth national president of 
NCNW--a position she would hold continuously until 1998.
  For more than four decades, she was at the helm of the preeminent 
leadership council for African-American women.
  Thanks to her unrivaled expertise, transcendent vision, and lifelong 
dedication to this cause and this great organization, when she retired 
in 1998, she lived in a country that was far more free, more fair, and 
more equal than the one she knew as a child.
  For her extraordinary work, in 2004 this Congress bestowed upon her 
its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. President 
Bush presented her with this award on her 92nd birthday.
  And so today, as Dorothy turns 98, I ask my colleagues to join with 
me in honoring the immeasurable contributions she has made to this 
country. I ask them to reflect upon the leadership she has rendered, 
the causes she has championed, and the countless lives she has touched.
  Without Dorothy Height, America might be a very different place. I 
thank her immensely for the difference she has made, and for the 
lifetime of hard work she has devoted to her fellow citizens.
  I wish her a wonderful birthday and many happy returns.

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