Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Height Dies

Over half a century ago, Dorothy Height, who died Tuesday at the age of 98 after a long stay in hospital, established herself as the preeminent female voice of the civil rights movement. As president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held for 40 years, Height fought tirelessly for African-Americans in the 1950s and 1960s alongside the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Even as a teenager in the 1930s, she marched on Times Square to protest the rash of lynchings in the United States. According to the late activist C. DeLores Tucker, Height was among the most important figures of the movement. "I call Rosa Parks the mother of the civil rights movement," Tucker said. "Dorothy Height is the queen."