[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 57 (Wednesday, April 21, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MEMORIALIZING DOROTHY HEIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2010

  Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening with a heavy heart. 
Yesterday morning, our Nation learned that yet another transcendent 
leader of our Nation's civil and human rights movement, Dr. Dorothy 
Irene Height, has gone home to be with God.
  I honestly don't know what it will be like to work in our Nation's 
capital without the esteemed `godmother' of the Civil Rights Movement 
in our midst.
  Time does not permit me to give a soaring tribute to this 98-year-old 
woman whose place in our Nation's history was launched when she was 
denied entry to the college of her choice, in 1929. You see, at that 
time, despite her academic acceptance, Barnard had set an artificial 
quota of allowing only two African Americans admittance each year.
  Well, well, well, look what ``Number 3'' did with her life!
  Whenever I reflect upon the impact Dr. Dorothy Height had upon our 
Nation, I will always think of a woman of steely determination and 
grit. But I will also remember someone who reveled in the grace of 
being a pioneering woman, as her many colorful hats will attest!
  This Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree leaves our Nation with a 
literal monument to her accomplishments in the form of the National 
Council of Negro Women Headquarters Building, at 633 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, N.W., a building that they own. And you know what? It's a 
building that's in the same neighborhood of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
N.W.--a home that, right now, is occupied by a President and a First 
Lady who, like Dr. Height, dared to dream big dreams.
  May God bless and keep Dr. Dorothy Height and the men and women of 
this Nation who loved her.

                          ____________________