Birds on the Brain

libraryadvocates:

Though most American students are familiar with the name of civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her bus seat for a white passenger, fewer know the name of Dorothy Height. Considered something of an unsung hero of the civil rights movement, Height was one of the earliest and longest-lasting leaders in the fight for equality. Height had been an activist since the New Deal era; she served as the leader of the National Council of Negro Women for four decades and, at the time of her death in 2010, she was the president emerita of that group.

Height’s career in activism lasted for nearly 80 years. She was active in protests against lynching in the 1930s, and she advised U.S. presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to Bill Clinton. President Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, declared her the “godmother of the civil rights movement and a hero to so many Americans,” according to the New York Times. According to the London Times, the president also said that Height had witnessed “every march and milestone along the way…. Even in the final weeks of her life … Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background, and faith.” Height had witnessed Obama’s oath of office, taken on January 20, 2009, from a place of honor on the dias.

Read more on the Dorothy I. Height library facebook page