| Dorothy Height |
| Dorothy Height, who has presided over the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) for nearly 30 years, is one of the nation's leading voices on behalf of African-American women and families. During the peak years of the civil rights movement, Height was often the only woman included in top strategy sessions, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins and other leaders. Known for her ability to foster unity and heal divisions, her counsel has been sought by many U.S. Presidents, from Eisenhower to Clinton. In the tradition of NCNW's founder, Mary McLeod Bethune, who said to "leave no one behind," Height, now 84, continues to devote her energies to organizing and educating at the grassroots, especially in troubled communities. A coalition of service organizations reaching four million African-American women, NCNW trains volunteer community workers to organize at the local level, sponsoring day care centers, promoting reproductive health efforts, helping teens stay focused on school, and leading countless other activities. "Part of our whole job is to help people influence their own lives," she says. For many years Height worked simultaneously at the YWCA, where she began in 1937 as a volunteer and eventually became the first director of its Center for Racial Justice. In 1986, under her leadership, NCNW began the Black Family Reunion, which has grown to be an important annual tradition in a number of cities. Drawing together tens of thousands of African Americans, from the homeless to the famous, the reunion celebrates the historic strengths and traditional values of the black family. "The Black Family Reunion generates what I call community energy to deal with problems," Height says. "It far exceeded anything we could have dreamed. It was as if people had been waiting for something positive like this." |