Norton Celebrates the Life of Dr. Dorothy Height & Mourns the Loss of her Friend & Mentor(4/20/2010)

Norton Celebrates the Life of Dr. Dorothy Height and Mourns the Loss of Her Friend and Mentor

WASHINGTON- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) issued the following statement on the passing of her Dr. Dorothy Height.

"I am a child of the civil rights movement, and I have lost my godmother and the godmother of the great movements of her time. My friend and mentor Dorothy Height lived the longest and most productive life of leadership for civil rights and women's rights in our history. She became a guiding force in her persona for generations of Americans like me, seeking equal rights for people of color and for women.

"Dorothy walked a straight line for human rights that accommodated no division among groups. When confusion arose among Black people as the women's rights movement emerged, Dorothy led by example. Black women quickly came to understand that if they had two strikes against them, it would do no good to let either remain.

"Dorothy seemed to know how important her continuing participation and presence was for the many causes she championed because she continued to speak and attend events until she was admitted, under protest, to Howard University Hospital where she died this morning. Dorothy Height was a woman of immense grace and elegance, but she did not go quietly. She lived as an activist until the very end of her life, for the great causes that bear her signature."