Dorothy Height

Dorothy Irene Height was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in Rankin, Pennsylvania. A brilliant student, she was accepted to Barnard College but turned away on registration day because the school had already filled its quota for Black students. She enrolled at New York University instead and earned both a bachelor's and master's degree.

Height became president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1957 and led it for the next 40 years. She was present at virtually every major moment of the civil rights era — she stood on the platform during the March on Washington, worked with Eleanor Roosevelt, and was the only woman in the "Big Six" civil rights leadership alongside King, Lewis, Wilkins, Young, and Farmer.

Despite her central role, Height was often overlooked and undercredited — a reflection of the sexism within the movement itself. She spent her life fighting for both racial justice and women's equality, understanding that the two could never be separated. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal before her death at 98.