On the recordApril 21, 2010
I support this resolution, H. Res. 1281, which commemorates the life of the late Dorothy Height, as the chairman said, who died just yesterday. She was one of the key civil rights leaders who fought for racial and gender equality in the 20th century. She helped bring about school desegregation. She brought about, in her own way, the movement for an advocation of voting rights and employment equality. She was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1912 and moved to Pennsylvania at an early age. In 1929, she was admitted to Barnard College, but she was denied admission when she showed up to register. The school had a policy of accepting only two black students. So she went to New York University and graduated in 1932. She received her master's degree in educational psychology the very next year, and after her studies Mrs. Height served as a caseworker in New York City welfare department. At the age of only 25, she joined the National Council of Negro Women, beginning her career as a civil rights activist on behalf of African Americans and all women.
