[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2466-S2467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER DOROTHY HEIGHT

  Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, last week, I came before this body to 
speak of the loss of a great leader from Memphis, TN, by the name of 
Benjamin Hooks. It is with a heavy heart that I come to the floor of 
the Senate again for the loss of a distinguished American. Early this 
morning, our Nation lost a strong leader and a great civil

[[Page S2467]]

rights pioneer. I ask my colleagues to join me for a moment in 
reflecting upon the leadership, passion, and selfless dedication that 
defined the highly consequential life of Ms. Dorothy Height.
  She began her career in the 1930s as a teacher in Brooklyn, NY. She 
became active in the United Christian Youth Movement shortly after it 
was founded. It was this cause that would first carry her to national 
leadership, though she was quite a young lady at the time.
  In 1938, Dorothy was selected by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to help 
plan a World Youth Conference. She rose to this task with poise and 
determination and made a strong impression on the First Lady.
  Later, Dorothy was asked to serve as a delegate to the World Congress 
on Life and Work of the Churches.
  Also, in 1938, she was hired by the YWCA and quickly began to rise 
through the ranks of the national organization.
  It was around this time that she caught the attention of Mary McLeod 
Bethune, founding president of the National Council of Negro Women, or 
NCNW, who recruited young Dorothy to join the fight for women's rights, 
one of the central issues that would become the cause of her life.
  She remained deeply involved in the YWCA and also attained high 
leadership positions in the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the U.S. 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 to this great organization, by the time of 
her retirement in 1998, she lived in a country that was far more free, 
more fair, and more equal than the one she saw 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.
  Today, as we celebrate Dorothy's life and mourn her loss, I ask my 
colleagues to join with me in honoring the immeasurable contributions 
she has made to this country.
  I ask them to reflect on the leadership she has rendered and the 
causes she has championed and the countless lives she has touched. 
Without Dorothy Height, America might be a very different place today.
  We owe a great deal for the difference she has made and for the 
lifetime of hard work she has devoted to her fellow citizens.
  It is with a sad heart that I come to this floor again to eulogize 
one of our pioneers, one of our greatest Americans, and one of the 
major contributors to the civil rights movement to advance the cause of 
equality and justice in the United States of America.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________