Dorothy Irene Height was a significant figure in the American civil rights and women’s rights movements.
Born in 1912, Height began her activism as a teenager, earning degrees in education and psychology from New York University.
Her activism included working for the New York City Welfare Department, leading efforts at the YWCA to improve conditions for Black domestic workers and fostering racial integration.
A major contributor to the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), she became its president in 1957, serving for 40 years and playing a key role in the civil rights movement.
Post-retirement she authored the memoir, “Open Wide the Freedom Gates”.
Height received significant recognition for her efforts, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Related: Yuri Kochiyama Quotes from American Civil Rights Activist and Fred Korematsu Quotes from American Civil Rights Activist
She passed away in 2010.
In this article, I have covered the most famous quotes by Dorothy Height.
Best Dorothy Height Quotes
If you worry about who is going to get credit, you don’t get much work done. ~ Dorothy Height.
But we’re all in the same boat now, and we’ve got to learn to work together. ~ Dorothy Height.
A Negro woman has the same kind of problems as other women, but she can’t take the same things for granted. ~ Dorothy Height.
We’ve got to work to save our children and do it with full respect for the fact that if we do not, no one else is going to do it. ~ Dorothy I. Height.
It was not easy for those of us who had become symbols of the struggle for equality to see our children raising their fists in defiant contradiction of all we had fought for. ~ Dorothy Height.
I was inspired by Mary McLeod Bethune, not only to be concerned but to use whatever talent I had to be of some service in the community. ~ Dorothy Height.
The Black family of the future will foster our liberation, enhance our self-esteem, and shape our ideas and goals. ~ Dorothy Height.
Famous Dorothy Height Quotes
If I take a finger and touch you, you won’t even know you’ve been tapped. If I take two fingers, you will know that something touched you. But if I bring all of those fingers together in a fist, I can give you a terrible blow! ~ Dorothy Height.
Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals. ~ Dorothy Height.
There is no contradiction between effective law enforcement and respect for civil and human rights. Dr. King did not stir us to move for our civil rights to have them taken away in these kinds of fashions. ~ Dorothy Height.
Top Dorothy Height Quotes
We had people of all backgrounds coming together – all races, all creeds, all colors, all status in life. And coming together there was a kind of quiet dignity and a kind of sense of caring and a feeling of joint responsibility. ~ Dorothy Height.
My mother helped me understand how not to show off what I knew, but how to use it so that others might benefit. ~ Dorothy Height.
…even if you are a token, you have an important function to fulfill. ~ Dorothy Height.
All you need to do is organize your butterflies. ~ Dorothy Height.
We have to improve life, not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but never get the opportunity. ~ Dorothy Height.
Popular Dorothy Height Quotes
You never teach a subject, you always teach a child. You teach children in a way that they will learn, and then things will fall in place for them. ~ Dorothy Height.
Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop. ~ Dorothy Height.
I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom…. I want to be remembered as one who tried. ~ Dorothy Height.
No one will do for you what you need to do for yourself. We cannot afford to be separate. We have to see that all of us are in the same boat. ~ Dorothy Height.
We are not a problem people; we are a people with problems. We have historic strengths; we have survived because of family. ~ Dorothy Height.
We have to realize we are building a movement. ~ Dorothy Height.
I am the product of many whose lives have touched mine, from the famous, distinguished, and powerful to the little known and the poor. ~ Dorothy Height.
As we move forward, let us also look back. So long as we remember those who died for our right to vote and those like John H. Johnson who built empires where there were none, we will walk into the future with unity and strength. ~ Dorothy Height.
So these were the 23 quotes from Dorothy Height.
If these quotes and sayings connect with you, check out our other posts on Yosemite Sam quotes and Boondock Saints quotes.