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Dorothy Irene Height
Dorothy Irene Height (March 24, 1912 – April 20, 2010)[1] was an American administrator, educator, and a Civil Rights and Women's Rights activist specifically focused on the issues of African American women. Some issues she worked on are unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness.[2] She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for forty years, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.[1] Contents [show] [edit]Early life

She was born in Richmond, Virginia to James Height and Fannie Burroughs. At a very early age, she moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania, a steel town in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, where she graduated from Rankin High School in 1929. Height received a scholarship from the Elks which helped her to attend college.[3] Height was admitted to Barnard College in 1929, but upon arrival, she was denied entrance because the school had an unwritten policy of admitting only two black students per year.[4] She pursued studies instead at New York University, earning a degree in 1932, and a master's degree in educational psychology the following year.[5] Height pursued further postgraduate work at Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work (the predecessor of the Columbia University School of Social Work).[6] [edit]Career

Height started working as a caseworker with the New York City Welfare Department and, at the age of twenty-five, she began a career as a civil rights activist when she joined the National Council of Negro Women. She fought for equal rights for both African Americans and women, and in 1944 she joined the national staff of the YWCA. She also served as National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority from 1946 to 1957.[7] She remained active with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority throughout her life. While there she developed leadership training programs and interracial and ecumenical education programs.[7] In 1957, Height was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held until 1997. During the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Height organized "Wednesdays in Mississippi",[8] which brought together black and white women from the North and South to create a dialogue of understanding. American leaders regularly took her counsel, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Height also encouraged President Dwight D. Eisenhower to desegregate schools and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint African American women to positions in government. In the mid 1960s, Height wrote a column entitled "A Woman's Word" for the weekly African-American newspaper, the New York Amsterdam News and her first column appeared in the March 20, 1965 issue on page 8. Height served on a number of committees, including as a consultant on African affairs to the Secretary of State, the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, and the President's Committee on the Status of Women. In 1974, Height was named to the National Council for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published The Belmont Report, a response to the infamous "Tuskegee Syphilis Study" and an international ethical touchstone for researchers to this day. [edit]Later life

The Dorothy I. Height Building, headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. In 1990, Height, along with 15 other African American women and men, formed the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom.[9] Height was recognized by Barnard for her achievements as an honorary alumna during its commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2004.[4] The musical stage play If This Hat Could Talk, based on her memoirs Open Wide The Freedom Gates, debuted in the middle of 2005. It showcases her unique perspective on the civil rights movement and details many of the behind-the-scenes figures and mentors who shaped her life, including Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt. Height was the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the largest civil rights organization in the USA. She was an honored guest at the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 and was seated on the stage. [1] She attended the National Black Family Reunion, celebrated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., every year until her death in 2010.[citation needed] On March 25, 2010 Height was admitted to Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C. for unspecified reasons. Her spokeswoman issued a statement stating that at that time she was in a "very serious, but stable" condition but that they were remaining optimistic about her recovery. On April 20, 2010, Height died at the age of ninety-eight. Her funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral on April 29, 2010 was attended by President and Mrs. Obama plus many dignitaries and notable people.[10] She was later interred at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Maryland. [edit]Personal life

According to a DNA analysis performed by African Ancestry Inc., she descended mainly from people of Sierra Leone. [11][12] [edit]Awards and honors

Presidential Citizens Medal (1989) Spingarn Medal from the NAACP (1993) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom From Want Award (1993) inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame (1993) Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994)[1] 7th Annual Heinz Award Chairman's Medal (2001)[13] Listed on Molefi Kete Asante's list of 100 Greatest African Americans (2002)[14] Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush on behalf of the United States Congress (Approved, 2003) (Awarded, 2004)[1] 2009 Foremothers Lifetime Achievement Award from the NRC for Women & Families[15] Upon her death, President Barack Obama ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on April 29, 2010 in her honor. On May 21, 2010, a Call Box was dedicated to Dr. Height. The Call Box is located on 7th Street, SW, in front of the last building in which Height lived.[16] [edit]References

^ a b c d e Iovino, Jim (2010-04-20). "Civil Rights Icon Dorothy Height Dies at 98". NBC Universal. Retrieved 2010-04-20. ^ "Dorothy Height." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Mar 14 2013, 08:53 http://www.biography.com/people/dorothy-height-40743. ^ Hine, Darlene Clark., William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold. "Chapter 21." The African-American Odyssey Combined Edition. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2010. 596. Web. ^ a b "=Civil Rights Pioneer Honor 75 years after rejection Barnard College recognizes woman the school once barred because of date2004-06-04". Newsday. p. A22. Retrieved 2010-04-20. ^ "Dorothy Height was educator and activist organizer". Post-Tribune. 2003-02-16. p. A2. Retrieved 2010-04-20. ^ Dr. Dorothy I. Height: Chair and President Emerita, National Council of Negro Women, National Council of Negro Women. 75th Anniversary. Retrieved 29 May 2012. ^ a b Height, Dorothy (2003). Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir. New York: PublicAffairs Press. ISBN 978-1-58648-286-2. ^ Evans, Ben (2010-04-20). "Dorothy Height, civil rights activist, dies at 98". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-04-20. ^ Kathryn Cullen-DuPont (1 August 2000). Encyclopedia of women's history in America. Info base Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8160-4100-8. Retrieved 4 February 2012. ^ "Dorothy Height, U.S. Civil Rights Leader, Buried". The Epoch Times. Retrieved 2010-04-30. ^ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1673564.htm Growing Interest in DNA-Based Genetic Testing Among African American with Historic Election of President Elect Barack Obama ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVObQQiMVl0 Dr. Height African Ancestry Reveal ^ The Heinz Awards, Dorothy Height profile ^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8. ^ "The 2009 Health Policy Heroes and Foremother Awards". National Research Center for Women & Families. http://www.center4research.org/news-events/previous-foremother-awards/. Retrieved 2010-12-05. ^ The Southwester, June 2010 [edit]External links

National Council for Science and the Environment Dorothy Height - Daily Telegraph obituary African Events Congressional Gold Medal Award for Dorothy Height Dorothy Height's oral history video excerpts, The National Visionary Leadership Project Dorothy Height's Videos Legacy: Black and White in America, a documentary featuring Dorothy Height Flag Half-Staff Day Order by President Barack Obama Dorothy Height (1912–2010): Civil Rights Leader Remembered for Lifelong Activism- video report by Democracy Now! Dorothy I. Height, Unsung Heroine Booknotes interview with Height on Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir, August 3, 2003. [edit]Sources

Height, Dorothy. Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir. Tracey A. Fitzgerald, The National Council of Negro Women and the Feminist Movement, 1935–1975, Georgetown University Press, 1985. Judith Weisenfeld, "Dorothy Height", Black Women in America: Profiles, MacMillan Library Reference USA, New York, 1999, pp. 128–130. Legacy: Black and White in America, a documentary featuring Dorothy Height. [show] v t e African-American Civil Rights Movement [show] v t e Delta Sigma Theta National Presidents [show] v t e National Women's Hall of Fame Authority control VIAF: 162733747 Categories (++): American people of Sierra Leonean descent (−) (±)African-American women activists (−) (±)African-American educators (−) (±)African Americans' rights activists (−) (±)African-American memoirists (−) (±)American Protestants (−) (±)American women's rights activists (−) (±)Congressional Gold Medal recipients (−) (±)New York University alumni (−) (±)Columbia University alumni (−) (±)People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (−) (±)Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients (−) (±)Spingarn Medal winners (−) (±)1912 births (−) (±)2010 deaths (−) (±)20th-century African-American activists (−) (±)Presidential Citizens Medal recipients (−) (±)People from Richmond, Virginia (−) (±)Delta Sigma Theta (−) (±)

fact about lions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_waiting_in_Namibia.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_waiting_in_Namibia.jpg Distribution of lions in India: The Gir Forest, in Gujarat, is the last natural range of about 400 wild Asiatic lions. There are plans to reintroduce some lions to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. Synonyms Felis leo Linnaeus, 1758[3] The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight,[4] it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia (where an endangered remnant population resides in Gir Forest National Park in India) while other types of lions have disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. Until the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. They were found in most of Africa, across Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.[5] The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a major population decline of 30–50% over the past two decades[date missing] in its African range.[2] Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, the West African lion population is particularly endangered. Lions live for 10–14 years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than 20 years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than 10 years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity.[6] They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take to bush and forest. Lions are unusually social compared to other cats. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a small number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. Lions are apex and keystone predators, although they scavenge as opportunity allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have been known to do so. Sleeping mainly during the day, lions are primarily nocturnal, although bordering on crepuscular[7][8] in nature. Highly distinctive, the male lion is easily recognised by its mane, and its face is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture. Depictions have existed from the Upper Paleolithic period, with carvings and paintings from the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves, through virtually all ancient and medieval cultures where they once occurred. It has been extensively depicted in sculptures, in paintings, on national flags, and in contemporary films and literature. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire, and have been a key species sought for exhibition in zoos over the world since the late 18th century. Zoos are cooperating worldwide in breeding programs for the endangered Asiatic subspecies. Contents [show] Etymology

The lion's name, similar in many Romance languages, is derived from the Latin leo;[9] and the Ancient Greek λέων (leon).[10] The Hebrew word לָבִיא (lavi) may also be related.[11] It was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus, who gave it the name Felis leo, in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.[3] Taxonomy and evolution

The lion's closest relatives are the other species of the genus Panthera: the tiger, the jaguar, and the leopard. P. leo evolved in Africa between 1 million and 800,000 years ago, before spreading throughout the Holarctic region.[12] It appeared in the fossil record in Europe for the first time 700,000 years ago with the subspecies Panthera leo fossilis at Isernia in Italy. From this lion derived the later cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea), which appeared about 300,000 years ago.[13] Lions died out in northern Eurasia at the end of the last glaciation, about 10,000 years ago;[14] this may have been secondary to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna.[15] Subspecies Traditionally, 12 recent subspecies of lion were recognised, distinguished by mane appearance, size, and distribution. Because these characteristics are very insignificant and show a high individual variability, most of these forms were probably not true subspecies, especially as they were often based upon zoo material of unknown origin that may have had "striking, but abnormal" morphological characteristics.[16] Today, only eight subspecies are usually accepted,[14][17] although one of these, the Cape lion, formerly described as Panthera leo melanochaita, is probably invalid.[17] Even the remaining seven subspecies might be too many. While the status of the Asiatic lion (P. l. persica) as a subspecies is generally accepted, the systematic relationships among African lions are still not completely resolved. Mitochondrial variation in living African lions seemed to be modest according to some newer studies, therefore all sub-Saharan lions sometimes have been considered a single subspecies. However, a recent study revealed lions from western and central Africa differ genetically from lions of southern or eastern Africa. According to this study, Western African lions are more closely related to Asian lions than to South or East African lions. These findings might be explained by a late Pleistocene extinction event of lions in western and central Africa and a subsequent recolonisation of these parts from Asia.[18] Previous studies, which were focused mainly on lions from eastern and southern parts of Africa, already showed these can be possibly divided in two main clades: one to the west of the Great Rift Valley and the other to the east. Lions from Tsavo in eastern Kenya are much closer genetically to lions in Transvaal (South Africa), than to those in the Aberdare Range in western Kenya.[19] Another study revealed there are three major types of lions, one North African–Asian, one southern African and one middle African.[20] Conversely, Per Christiansen found that using skull morphology allowed him to identify the subspecies krugeri, nubica, persica, and senegalensis, while there was overlap between bleyenberghi with senegalensis and krugeri. The Asiatic lion persica was the most distinctive, and the Cape lion had characteristics allying it more with P. l. persica than the other sub-Saharan lions. He had analysed 58 lion skulls in three European museums.[21] By far most lions, which are kept in zoos are hybrids of different subspecies. About 77% of the captive lions registered by the International Species Information System are of unknown origin. Nonetheless, they might carry genes, which are extinct in the wild and might be therefore important to maintain overall genetic variability of the lion.[22] It is believed, that those lions, which were imported to Europe until the middle of the 19th century, were mainly Barbary lions from North Africa or lions from the Cape.[23] Recent