“I just keep feeling that social justice is not some kind of utopia, I think it’s a positive reality, and we have to work at it,” - Dorothy Irene Height 1912-2010
Maybe you've never heard of Dr. Dorothy Height. But you should have. She has been awarded 36 honorary Doctorates, she was the only female on the platform while Dr. Martin Luther King gave his I Have A Dream speech, she was proudly on the platform at the inauguration of Barack Obama and she has led more civic organizations than I could recount.
She was a United Methodist of strong faith and character. She fought for the rights of the underprivileged regardless of the opposition. She was friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune even though she was decades younger than them. She has mentored dozens of women who hold prominent positions in government and civic life.
Her book, Open Wide the Freedom Gates, shares her story of fighting for equal rights. Although her death hasn't quite made national headlines, (Newsweek has a wonderful tribute and UMC.org had a great write up, though!)it should have. Her life has irrevocably changed history - her vision has brought elements of social justice to wide swaths of the population who had never known it before.
May her life be an example to all those who wish to follow the risen Christ.
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