MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Dawkins, Jordan, Simmons, Harden, Jackson (32nd), Jackson (11th), Butler, Horhn, Jones, Butler (36th), Turner, Baria, Blount, Frazier
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE LIFE OF DOROTHY IRENE HEIGHT, FOUNDING MATRIARCH OF THE NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
WHEREAS, Dorothy Irene Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American Civil Rights Movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died on April 19, 2010; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Height was among the coalition of African-American leaders who pushed Civil Rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations in the 1950s and 1960s; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Height was President of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, relinquishing the title in 1997. The four million-member advocacy group consists of 34 national and 250 community-based organizations. It was founded in 1935 by educator Mary McLeod Bethune, who was one of Ms. Height's mentors; and
WHEREAS, as a Civil Rights Activist, Ms. Height participated in protests in Harlem during the 1930s. In the 1940s, she lobbied First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of Civil Rights causes. In the 1950s, she prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to move more aggressively on school desegregation issues. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. In a statement issued by the White House, President Obama called Height "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans"; and
WHEREAS, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, she led the National Council of Negro Women to start "Wednesday's in Mississippi," the only Civil Rights project run by a national women's organization. While the goal was to bridge the divide between women of different race, class and regional backgrounds, the workshops led the National Council of Negro Women to successfully partner with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create Turnkey III Home Ownership for low-income families in Gulfport, Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, Dorothy Height was born March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, to James Edward Height, a building contractor, and Fannie Borroughs Height, a nurse. Raised in Rankin, Pennsylvania, Height was exposed to injustice early in her life when she was turned away from Barnard College in 1929 when the school informed her that the two positions set aside for black students had been filled. Fortunately, she found a home at New York University and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in four years. At New York University, she became a leader of the United Christian Youth Movement of North America and became passionate about preventing lynchings, desegregating the armed forces, and reforming the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS, her passion for volunteerism and leadership did not fall solely on the YWCA and the National Council of Negro Women. She was also a dedicated member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and served from 1947 until 1956 as its National President. Some of her more notable accomplishments include:
· The establishment of the Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement in New York City in 1970;
· The dedication of the statue of Mary McLeod Bethune in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C., in 1974. The statue was the first for a woman on public land in the nation's capital;
· Participation in the 1975 Tribunal at the International Women's Year Conference of the United Nations in Mexico City, which led to a grant awarded to the National Council of Negro Women from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID);
· The establishment of the Bethune Council House, the former home of Mary McLeod Bethune, as a national historic site through the National Park Service. The Bethune Council House is the first institution devoted to black women's history and houses the Bethune Museum and Archives for Black Women; and
WHEREAS, among her numerous other achievements, Height was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, is a recipient of the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, is a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and on her 92nd birthday she accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian and most distinguished award presented by the United States Congress; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Height was arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of Civil Rights leadership, but she never drew the major media attention that conferred celebrity and instant recognition on some of the other Civil Rights leaders of her time. At every major effort for social progressive change, Dorothy Height has been there:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the loss and commend the life of Dorothy Irene Height, a founding matriarch of the National Civil Rights Movement, who was instrumental in developing low-income housing opportunities in Gulfport, Mississippi, and extend to her surviving family our sympathy on her passing.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.