| Dorothy Height: Committed to civil rights By Walter Shropshire, Jr. On her 92nd birthday, March 24, Dorothy Irene Height, influential psychologist and activist social worker of the civil rights movement and author, received the Congressional Gold Medal at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. In her fascinating memoir, 'Open Wide the Freedom Gates,' Height describes the long record of her life’s work and mission of optimism and idealism as she seeks to address the pervasiveness and persistence of racism in our society. She worked for 34 years on the staff of the YWCA and was president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1958, where she continues to serve as chair and president emerita. Early in her career, Height met Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt on the same day. Both women became colleagues and friends. In fact, the title of this memoir comes from Bethune’s invitation to join the NCNW in 1937 to work together to eliminate injustice. ' The freedom gates are half ajar. We must pry them fully open,' she said. Height has been committed to this calling ever since. Among the tangible legacies of her work are the statue honoring Bethune in Lincoln Park, opposite the statue of President Lincoln emancipating slaves, and the elegant six-story headquarters building of the NCNW at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. The location of this restored building is particularly significant since it is near the former location of the Center Slave Market. It is fitting that the building now has African-American ownership. Change has taken place in our society since the days in which Height first arrived in D.C., in 1939, to find a completely segregated city with no public bathrooms that a black person could use and Union Station as the only place a black person could get a sandwich. Because of her many activities while commuting between New York City and Washington, such as the Black Family Reunion, Debtors Anonymous, and the March on Washington in 1963, many people have awakened 'to their rights, responsibilities and opportunities.' She continues to encourage people to know their rich history of music, theatre, dance and poetry in order to utilize 'the enormous potential that lies ahead.' For me, her life is best expressed in her own words about the importance of elders: 'If you are yourself, you can draw tremendous strength from such wise elders, in part because you know that they are not going to be there forever. Then, when they go, you discover that their strength has become part of you. When the moment of separation comes, you discover how your own inner resources have been nurtured and strengthened because you lived so fully in the relationship. You feel blessed and challenged to prove worthy of their trust.' Height’s memoir blesses and challenges us all. The Rev. Walter Shropshire, Jr. is a retired pastor in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. | 
Login/Register to leave comment