Have you ever felt frustrated? As Dorothy Height took her seat on the speaker stage at the March on Washington in 1963, surrounded by some of the most famous civil rights activists, she couldn’t quite believe how far she had come. Yet the frustration remained. In 1929, the dean of Barnard College told her that the college had reached its quota of ‘two negro students per year’. Height was crushed. She couldn’t eat or sleep for days. But she was unwilling to defer her dreams. So she headed to New York University with her Barnard acceptance letter and they admitted her on the spot. It was this determination that led her through the following decades. As Obama observed, “She was the only woman at the highest level of the civil rights movement – witnessing every march and milestone along the way.” She, rightfully, gained her place among the prominent leaders of the movement yet her sense of frustration, which motivated her, never left her side. This is the story of how Height turned her rejection into activism, used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom, and how she wanted to be remembered as the one who tried…
The Rejection of Barnard and the Birth of the Activist
Dorothy Height’s elation when she won soon dissipated. She was born on March 24th 1912 in Richmond, Virginia. Frustrated and angered with the inequality in America, Height, like many other people, became socially and politically active in her teenage years. She participated in several anti-lynching campaigns and demonstrated a remarkable talent for public speaking.
She once won a national oratory competition that landed her a college scholarship. But her elation soon dissipated.
There was a problem. The dean of Barnard College. Height grew up in integrated schools. She was acutely aware of racism in America. But growing up in integrated schools, it never occurred to her that she would encounter racism in college. She excelled as a student and dreamt of college most of her early life.
She saw her scholarship as a ticket to the life she wanted and worked so hard to realise.
And so she sat outside the dean’s office. She had her acceptance papers in her hand, it was now just a case of trivial formalities and she was in. Barnard had accepted her. But the dean was not a kind man. He took one look at Height and she knew. In that one look her heart broke.
I’m sorry, we’ve reached our quota of two negro students per year.
At that moment, Height felt an overwhelming sense of anger and frustration. She couldn’t eat or sleep for days. but she was unwilling to defer her dreams. And so she headed to New York University and explained to its dean what had happened.
She had her Barnard acceptance papers in her hand. The dean could see she was distraught. But her academic prowess spoke for itself. She was incredibly intelligent. She worked so hard at everything she did. She didn’t let failure define her, rather she saw it as an opportunity to learn. She was the exceptional student New York wanted.
She was admitted on the spot.
Height was conflicted. On the one hand, she felt elation. But she had dreamt of Barnard for many months before she met the dean. She built her hopes up, understandably so, only for a racist to shatter them. Externally, it seemingly didn’t get the better of her. But internally, she felt devastated. Frustrated and angered.
It was a moment in her life that changed her. A moment that set her on a course to turn her rejection into activism. To become the ‘one who tried’. It would land her at the frontline of the Civil Rights Movement and set an example for others to follow…
The Graduate Who Stayed to Help and Provide Compassion
Height graduated from New York, receiving a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in psychology. But the Barnard incident left an indelible mark on her. She remembered the campaigns she took part in as a teenager. Racism was everywhere. The fight for equality rumbled on. And then there was what happened to her. Yes, she had her university degrees but they paled into insignificance when the world was so clearly broken.
She had a lot of time to think in college. And when she left all she wanted to do was help. And so her first job was as a social worker in Harlem. Her oratory skills defined her. Those she spoke to felt comforted. They felt cared for. They felt a sense of belonging. Height’s care and compassion shone.
With her, you felt safe. You felt… hope.
But it was never without hard work. That was what was needed. The graft and determination to fight. For Height, social work was not a ‘job’ but a vocation. It was her calling to help others, however she could, a fight for justice and freedom. Harlem is when she became the one who tried.
Height moved on to the Harlem Young Women’s Christian Association, rising rapidly through the ranks to become the leader of this small, local organisation. She was a friend to so many. Her compassion defined her. She created diverse programs and pushed the organisation to integrate YWCA facilities nationwide.
A shared struggle, a shared fight.
Her life was to change with a chance encounter with Mary Bethune, a civil rights leader. She inspired Height to begin working with the National Council of Negro Women and through this, Height began her transition from a local leader to a national voice.
The Organiser of Civil Rights and the Power of Education
Through the NCNW, Height focused her attention on ending the lynching of black people and restructuring the criminal justice system. She worked to develop leadership training programs and interracial and ecumenical education programs. In 1957, she became the president of the NCNW.
It was a role she held for the next 40 years.
In that role, she organised ‘Wednesdays for Mississippi’. This was a group that brought black and white women from the North and South together to create, in Height’s words, ‘bridges of understanding across regional, racial and class lines’.
She focused on education as a means to ending racism. And you can’t fault her logic. Ignorance births many evils.
Under her leadership, the NCNW campaigned for voter registration in the south and financially aided several civil rights activists across America. Height rose to prominence within the Civil Rights Movement precisely for her hard work. Her knowledge of organisation, for example, meant that she was regularly called to advise on political issues.
She focused on political mobilisation, vital for black women who were not able to engage in politics at a level on par with their white counterparts. She instituted dozens of social programs aimed at improving the lives of black Americans, especially in the south. She also saw the problems of equality for women and equality for black people as a whole, rather than separate issues, something no one before her had done.
She led the NCNW through the most critical years of the Civil Rights Movement. Her sense of frustration, anger and hope for something better led her throughout it all. She was a prize-winning orator, albeit the prize she won was rejection from Barnard.
She fostered dialogue and communication between warring groups and was an effective mediator during disputes in planning meetings with leaders of varying philosophies. It was ironic, then, she didn’t speak in 1963.
She took her seat on the speaker stage at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. She was surrounded by many of the famous civil rights activists of her time. She did not speak that day, no woman did, but for many, simply being there cemented Height’s place among these prominent leaders.
Not that she saw herself as such. She just wanted to help. However she could. And not just in America, but all over the world…
The Well-Travelled Activist and the Recognition She Won
Throughout the 1960s, Height travelled extensively. She worked as a visiting professor at the University of Delhi and with the Black Women’s Federation of South Africa. She served on several committees, including the President’s Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. She also worked on the National Council for the Protection of Human Subjects, which published The Belmont Report, a response to the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
For all her efforts during the Civil Rights Movement, Height won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.
We lost Dorothy Height as recently as 2010. She died on April 20th at the age of 98. Her funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral.
The Legacy of the Self-Made Activist
From an early age, Dorothy Height was an exceptional student. She campaigned as a teenager to end lynching and for equality for black people and women. She won a scholarship thanks to her remarkable oratory skills but faced rejection due to racism. Undeterred, Height worked hard to show others who faced discrimination and hardship compassion and kindness, working to bring people together and give hope for something better.
Her frustration and anger motivated her. The hurt she felt and saw in others. She may be regarded as one of the great civil rights leaders but in her mind’s eye, she offered the role of guidance. An organiser and councillor to those who needed help. This wasn’t a fight she took on single-handedly. This was a vocation. A calling from the woman who tried, who tried to help and tried to make the world a better place.
That was how she wanted to be remembered. And for nothing more. She is one of the most influential people in the Civil Rights Movement. She turned her frustration, her hurt, into ambition. She was unwilling to defer her dreams.
We all encounter frustration in our lives. Hurt, anger and rejection, too. And we all react differently. Some surrender to the pain. Some rage against it. Some succeed and some fail. Height showed what a personal battle could be through the power of words and education alone. She knew knowledge was power and that is why she is so inspirational.
This is why she is such a great, self-made woman. She showed everyone a path to combating discrimination and inequality that profoundly impacted the world.
Dorothy Height once said:
I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom. I want to be remembered as one who tried.
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Image Credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Height
Post Sources
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=23809, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/dorothy-height, https://www.nps.gov/people/dorothy-i-height.htm, https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/dorothy-height-39, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Height
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