Heartfelt Eulogy Delivered By Obama At Dorothy Height Funeral
On Thursday in Washington D.C., President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at Dorothy Height’s funeral. He issued an executive order directing that the American flag fly at half staff on land and at sea worldwide before he spoke at the service that was held in the Washington National Cathedral. Dorothy Height’s biography shows her as the leading female voice of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Dorothy Height’s civil rights activism continued well into her 90s and took part in discussions about health care at the White House until late last year. She was at the Howard University Hospital. April 20 was when Dorothy Height died. She was 98 years old.
At the funeral for Dorothy Height
At the Dorothy Height funeral at Washington National Cathedral, President Obama supposedly lightened the reverent mood with a fondly humorous portrait of the feisty Ms. Height that often drew laughter from the audience, according to the New York Times. Obama also explained the Height had made 21 visits to the white house just since his inauguration. “We did come to know her during the early days of my campaign, and we came to love her as so many loved her,” the president said. “We loved her stories, and her smile and those hats.” Dorothy Height’s trademark look was her outfits being matched with big, brightly colored hats.
Presidential Honor for Dorothy Height
Obama’s heartfelt eulogy at the Dorothy Height funeral and his executive flag order aren’t the first time Dorothy Height’s civil rights devotion has been honored by a President of the United States. Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. George W. Bush awarded Height Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. The Associated Press reports that when Bush awarded her the medal, he said that Height had met with every U.S. president since Eisenhower, and “she’s told every president what she thinks since Dwight David Eisenhower.”
Biography of Dorothy Height
The Dorothy Height biography includes marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr. At the march on Washington in 1963, she was on the platform at the Lincoln Memorial, sitting only a few feet from King, when he gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Dorothy Height’s civil rights activism was underscored by her leadership of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, from 1957 to 1997. Height spearheaded many programs to help poor rural families to be able to raise their own livestock and also worked to ease racial tensions with a program called “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” in which black and white women that were from the north would travel to meet with their Southern counterparts.
Dorothy Height’s legacy
The New York Times noted that Height was considered by historians and civil rights activists as one of the last links to the social activism of the New Deal era of Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was able to witness in her career events ranging from anti-lynching protests to the inauguration of President Obama. Height told Washington TV station WTTG that she was overwhelmed with emotion when Obama won the election.
“People ask me, did I ever dream it would happen, and I said, if you didn’t have the dream, you couldn’t have worked on it,” she said.
Article Sources
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/us/politics/30height.html?ref=politics
Dorothy Height’s trademark look
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/04/obama-orders-flags-at-half-staff-in-honor-of-dorothy-height/1
“I have a dream” speech
mlkonline.net” href=”http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html