Nearly 9 years after her death, the late civil rights leader and Richmond, Virginia native, Dorothy Height, is still being honored for her contributions toward social and racial justice.
Recently, the state dedicated a historical marker in her honor and held a ceremony at the Hull Street Branch Library, near the neighborhood where Height was born, to unveil the marker.
“[Height was] an advocate for women and a civil rights leader, born in Richmond, who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and was a chief organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. She was also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom [in 1994],” local CBS station reports a spokesperson from the Department of Historic Resources saying.
For 40 years, Height worked as the president of the National Council of Negro Women where she promoted economic development and voting rights and advised United States presidents. She also served as the 10th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and on the national staff of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) from 1944 to 1977.
In 2010, the civil rights icon passed away at 98, with President Barack Obama delivering remarks at her funeral.
“The great test of a life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, is to harness that instinct; to redirect it towards advancing the greater good; toward changing a community and a country for the better; toward doing the Lord’s work,” he said. “I sometimes think Dr. King must have had Dorothy Height in mind when he gave that speech. For Dorothy Height met the test. Dorothy Height embodied that instinct. Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice. A drum major for equality. A drum major for freedom. A drum major for service.”