Dorothy Irene Height was an American civil rights and women’s rights activist. She focused on the issues of African American women, including, illiteracy and voter awareness.

Height earned an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in educational psychology at New York University. She pursued further postgraduate work at Columbia University.  

She became President of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in 1958 and remained in that position until 1990. Height received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton in 1994.  

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