live long enough to see president barack obama get across that line, let her live long enough to see him cross that line. what a fitting climax for a long distance runner to see her fruit bear. from disgrace to amazing grace. as president clinton said she was led by the power of her example, not the example of her power. she served against all odds. while we speak so much about 98 years, she was not mostly known for living a long time, woman thought to be in a man's world. a black thought to be in the white0s world. known not by longevity but by

service and character and example, and so, to many of us, john and vernon, we were at the jail this year, 50 years ago, in greensboro, greensville and the like, all of our lives we have had over us some beam of light cast by the height of dorothy height. and so, fulfilling dreams and opening doors, she leaves the world better than when she found it. she leaves a new america, a new world, at the age of barack. she now goes to prepare a place for us like she always did, and so, sweet dorothy, rest. we will see you in the morning. [applause] ...

[applause] i first came to know dr. dorothy height in the process to answer a ringing telephone. when i picked up the receiver i

said whoever you are i've just broken my toe. [laughter] i heard him cicely tyson? hi said yes. this is dr. dorothy irene height. well, it was at the very beginning of my career i was an actress and i had no idea who would dr. dorothy irene height was. [laughter] and so i suggest? cicely tyson, i called to let you know the national council of

the league of women has voted to give you our award this year. i said well i didn't do anything. [inaudible] i had done or was about to -- but i hadn't done it yet. i was a person not to accept anything that i don't think i have earned. so she said you, my dear young leedy, are setting a course even at the ferry had beginning of

your career that lets us know that you are going to be a real role model. [applause] , i said thank you very much. how what do i go about getting this? we will let you know. [laughter] what is the address? no, she was about to ask me for the address of my agent or manager and she changed her mind and said we would like to send the information directly to you please give me your address. and so i did. several years later, she really

stunned me when she asked me to open the mary mcleod steven's house. and i said but you know, there are so many other actresses out there who have really paid their dues. ms. cicely tyson, que r our choice and i can tell you today that i will never forget it as long as i live. it was one of the most glorious experience this i had ever had. that day i felt like the sun was shining just for me as i stood along these dignitaries and read mary mcleod bethune charge.

what she did at the beginning of my career was to let me know that i was on the right course. she was the first one who ever acknowledged that. i never let her forget. a couple of months ago i heard from everyone i ran into dorothy height is looking for you. what is it? what did i do? i don't know. well, we played phone tag for a while, kept missing each other and one day i ran into her for a brief moment and she said to me how long are you going to be here and i said i am leaving tomorrow. when are you coming back? i will be back in about a week.

when you come back please come to see me but something began to gnaw at me and i kept trying to reach it and one day i did and she picked up the phone. dr. height, it is cicely tyson. where have you been i've been looking all over for you. i said i've tried to reach you i've been missing you and you kept missing me so she said i want you to make a contribution. [laughter] and i said in what way, dr. height she said i can't hear you i think i've lost my hearing aid. i said that's all right. that's all right i will call you back.

i received a call asking for me to please come immediately that she was hospitalized and it didn't what good. i jumped on the treen and wind from the train station to the hospital and alexis said to me go in there and say her favorite poem [inaudible] she said you have to talk loud because she can't hear you so i went and i put my lips to eckert years and i started screaming. midway she turned her head from me as if to say stop screaming, stop screaming. i can hear you.

well, and listening to the many speakers extol the virtues and greatness of his dorothy, i sat their wondering does anybody know what she went through to get to where she was, and i thought the woman has no rivers, ancient of the world and older than the flow of human blood and human van. her sole deep like the reverse. [inaudible] she looked upon the model and raised the pyramids above it.

when abe lincoln went down to new orleans she saw its muddy bosom turn all gold. ancient, dusty reverse. her sole grew deep like the rivers so she could tell you about them. she has shaken the water out of her lungs, has swam strength. [inaudible] deep, very deep. she has shaken the water, neil on the banks and kissed her ancestors of the dirt whose rich dark roots rose up, reached out, grabbed and pulled her gentle,

strong and firm, carried her, made her cross rivers [inaudible] yes, she can tell you for she has shaken the rivers and the challenge from here without bringing my friend and her friend [inaudible] [applause] [inaudible] all the time she was climbing on

her, reaching land, turning corners and sometimes in the dark and now she's asking you not to turn back. don't you sit down on the steps. don't you fall now. [inaudible] god bless you. [applause] >> cicely tyson. dr. dorothy was complimenting her because she is one of the few who has never compromised her standards, who has only taken part in hollywood that honors black women hood and her people. we love you, cicely tyson, thank

you. [applause] please welcome longtime supporter of stanton deputy assistant secretary of policy management and budget for the u.s. department of interior along with national council negro within corporate partners. pamela anderson director of the ford motor company and officially in chairman of the general motors foundation. we applaud pamela and 50 yen for carrying on the tradition of national council original corporate sponsors. frank and rod. are they in the house tonight? if they are, bless you because you supported the council so much. tonight we also welcome jeffrey thompson, president of the chargers health plan. [applause] >> good evening. to the reverend clergy, to the

height family to alexis herman, to the distinguished men and women. in 1955 the nation suffered the loss of mcleod bethune. five years after her death through the leadership of dr. dorothy irene height, the nation recognized the accomplishment of dr. bethune and wanted to respond to the request of dr. height to authorize the council, the national council of negro women to erect and the lincoln park here in the nation's capital a memorial to honor the life and the legacy of dr. marion mcleod bethune. that beautiful memorial was dedicated in 1974. i have been associated with

dr. height before and after that and i can only recall two tim since the dedication of 1974 that she was not personally and lincoln park to honor her mentor, dr. marion mcleod bethune. the national park service and the interior of the obama administration and my colleagues are here with me this evening. we invite you to come to the lincoln park on july 10th not only to observe and so the read and reflect on the legacy of dr. bethune but dr. height i assure you will be there as well. come and join us. [applause] dr. height didn't stop there. in 1991 the nation again responded affirmatively to a call that you know 1935 we have a headquarters built. that too should be preserved so that they live and we do

preserve the mary mcleod bethune counsel to the council national site and the whole of the only archives to the american women. that is a part of dr. height's legacy and rn tuitele. [applause] lastly, what i would tell you is that i have learned so much from her. she is in a great teacher and continues to be a teacher but she had a great deal to do with the planning and the design of lincoln park and she drew from the scriptures something that is inscribed on there that is so subtle but provokes one to come to grips with your own lives, their own needs. and i think she would ask that we would pause on that and ponder upon that. and that inscription is simply this as it relates to a doctor

bethune. but her work to praise her. the subtlety of that, my friends, as we observe and commemorate the richness of the life that dr. height has given is my judgment this. but what my work say about me? what will your work say about you? and yes my people as a nation and as a community, what will ever work say about us? we would to ourselves and dr. height to stay in the struggle. thank you again. [applause] speed it is my honor to welcome the director of the ford motor company. thank you for their contribution to the corporation of the national council of negro women in terms of financial need.

also vivian president of general motors foundation who have been a longstanding corporate sponsor of the various activities of the national council of negro women and the national review and the celebrated its 25th anniversary. these are corporate sponsors and leading the effort on many occasions is thompson the ceo of the charter health plan. come forward, please. [applause] >> thank you. i was glad this evening to read a passage from dr. height's book and in her own words, it goes i believe it is the hand of god that led the african american woman to establish the center on the power halfway between the capitol and the white house

[inaudible] it was both f lifting and humbling when the building was named the dorothy height building. from our house we must always be a strong presence and an unrelenting force working for equal the and justice under the freedom gates and for the open. i had the privilege to work with dr. height for 30 years and i learned so much for her, but there is one word that summarize and signifies what i've learned from her and i'm sure it is the same for you and this determination. when it came time to purchase the building in 1996, her determination was in full force. when she discussed the building with me i said the price is too high, the numbers don't work. she said mr. thompson, we must find a way to make it work. i said mother height, you must

convince the sears roebuck company to drastically reduce the price. my friends, she did more than that, she convinced the company to cut the price in half. determination. [applause] when it came time to buy the contract on the building, the day before it was to be done i was at my firm and received an urgent call from dr. height. i told my secretary to tell her i would call back and she insisted on speaking with me and said mr. thompson you must come now. now. i dropped everything and went to see her. when i walked into the office a certain gentleman on whose

shoulders she climbed to achieve success and whom she had opened many doors before dared to back away from this company. i said mother height, what will you do? we must get this deal completed give me a few minutes to reflect. before i left her office, she said mr. thompson, see what you can do. plainspoken see what you can do. my friends, i knew how important this building was to have a home on pennsylvania avenue. in 15 minutes after calling my banker and attorney we were able to get the funding to bind the contract. [applause] my friends, dorothy height's

determination was not allowed, it was not arrogant, it was not boastful. her determination was purposeful, visionary, strong as steel but in every respect humble. she taught me with those simple words see what you can do to never leave tone when you have a project or mission to achieve. so i say to you tonight inclosing her legacy is rich. each of us can draw from the of reservoir of her legacy so i borrowed from her words to say to you tonight let's see what we can do to carry the legacy. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. and i do want to ask -- i do want to thank and ask dr. barbara the interim chair of the national council to stand. [applause]

dr. schorr i want you to know that we are here and we are going to support you. can we have all of the women of the national council stand please. stand and let us acknowledge that we are going to continue the legacy of our beloved dr. dorothy height. i bring to you now this is history. this is history. three when in shaping the world making it a better place. the longtime national council of the night of supporter of the senior vice president of the coca-cola company and the chair of the global coca-cola foundation. and the two past honorees, the fearless marion wright edelman president and founder of the children's defense fund and master educator dr. johnetta

cole to director of the smithsonian national museum of the national art and both dr. johnetta and marion wright edelman are former awardees of the uncommon height of word award. [applause] >> the life and the surprising times of dorothy irene height who rose to uncommon heights and invited us to join her along the way. now every speech has a beginning, middle and end. i am going to do you all a favor and take the middle out of mind. so i will start at the beginning by offering congratulatory condolences to the families of dorothy irene height, the blood family, then we go out in concentric circles to the rest

of the family, the delta sigma theta family, the national council of negro women family, and all of us who claim her because she did so much for us. but officially i am here to represent a corporate world that she called upon early and often to help and all of us couldn't speak tonight so on behalf of sears and general motors and chrysler and ford and hallmark and johnson & johnson and shell and bet and ups and essence and black enterprise and wal-mart and ups i'm representing them because all of corsi interpol

and she called us early and often. [laughter] and we always said yes because she was doing the heavy lifting. she was doing god's work and all the we had to do was follow and we knew everything would be all right. so in closing let me just say that dorothy irene height helped us off hour game, each one of us when we were with her. she was on commonly concerned about all the fuss. in closing i will use my favorite quote from john henry clark and i know that irene dory irene height knew him. she said history is the clock people use to tell their time of day. it tells them who they are and

what they are. it helps them find themselves on the map of human geography. those who live their lives well know that is what they do every day that writes the history of of tomorrow. dorothy irene height wrote a lot of history and allowed us to germany with her on the road. like you, i will miss our good friend. like you, corporate america, will miss her, too. [applause] >> we have heard a portrait of a great woman this evening. we have heard she never lost the common touch. i was so honored at the award because there isn't a common bone and dorothy height. she had an uncommon collection of hats and i have not worn a

hat in 20 years but i have one on tonight. [laughter] she was always the best dressed woman in the room and bar none and i promised her i would buy a hat and i borrowed this one tonight. [laughter] [applause] she was uncommonly burly and with an uncommon photographic memory and sense of history and she could tell stories and she really was and i am grateful. she was the longest serving board member of the children's defense fund and i mean active board member and was an uncommonly wise leader and adviser and an uncommon friend. you could call her early and late and she would call you early and leave and she was always there when you need her. she was just m. uncommon friend and mentor and role model. she was in on common bridge

builder between privileged women and less privileged women and black women for the women's movement and the children's movement, and i remember in the wednesdays' of mississippi and the president referred tonight with the housing project still down there in mississippi. they remember when she came to try to bring other privileged women to give fourth to the home and lots of other poor black women but she was a bridge builder and everybody remembers being brought together just as she brought them together but she was then on, and bridge builder. she was on commonly courageous and bold and so must we be uncommonly bold and this new era of new challenges to the community and to our children. she left us some pretty clear

instructions about what we were to do and we have heard a lot of those instructions this evening but my favorite quote from her is when she said we african-american women seldom do just what we want to do but we always do what we have to do an she told us that if we don't save our children, nobody else is going to do eight so let's get about the business of saving our children from this cradle of pipeline that is sapping their energy and their future and she started the first john hope franklin summit at the howard university and the last one is wendi at harvard university tomorrow and then we are going to go to the next step but we need to do what she told us to do because she left us a legacy and an example of leadership and of courage.

finish that legacy of making sure the children she wanted so much to have a future will get its and i hope you will remember her as a uncommon servant of god. my mama and daddy taught me the service of paid by lifting she paid her rent and all of our print and an extraordinary amount of rent for the children that need help. let's pay our rent and make sure that next generation gets what she gave us. god bless dorothy height. [applause] >> deer family of dr. dorothy irene height, and that includes her ever so special bader secretary alexis herman. my sisters and my brothers all with so little time to pay

tribute to the long life and the amazing and graceful work of dr. dorothy irene height, let me simply give a voice to praises the offer glimpses of who dr. height was and always will be for me and countless women, men, and children and our communities, our nation, and our world. dr. height, the queen mother of a civil rights movement. dr. height, and iconic feminist who was an insistent voice on the race in the women's movement.

dr. height, leader extraordinary of three white just women's organizations. the ymca, the national council of negro women and delta sigma theta sorority dewey de dr. height love to those organizations like the devil who loves sin. [laughter] and of course, dr. height, the bearer of the torch from dr. mary mcleod bethune. dr. height, our shero. but for me, words that wonderfully kafta dr. height are

words that yet another one of my sheros just used. marion wright edelman spoke of dr. height as a woman of uncommon. there is something else about the on comparable dorothy height and it is this, that she challenged each of us to strive towards uncommon greatness. she urged each of us must sore to the height of our possibilities. but, dr. height warned us that no matter how high each of us might soar we will never have done enough if we do not then

turn and help somebody. so let us say it again and again but more urgently let us do what is called for in the mighty words of dr. mary mcleod bethune , words that ordered every step of dr. irene height'g and purpose filled life. let us climb, my sisters and brothers but let us remember to lift others as we climb. and finally let us take comfort in words of an african proverb

no one dies as long as they are remembered. dr. dorothy irene height, you will never be forgotten. [applause] estimate that is the path to make sure that dr. dorothy is never forgotten and we are almost there. i just want a few women to stand as we come to the end of the program, near the end, just know dr. height would want me to hold melanie campbell is melody in the house? melanie campbell. the executive director of the national coalition on black six participation and also the computer of the black women's roundtable brought us together always with dr. height at the center. the woman whose round table are in the house please stand and let us acknowledge you. there we are.

[applause] black women and leadership standing strong and firm. and dr. malveaux of the college for women. are you in the house still? there you are. dr. barbara skinner always the worker. i've got your notes and your order. i will be there. thank you, dr. barbara of. and let me introduce to you a man, dr. mr. joe coleman, former singer of the plotters who planned this song for our beloved dr. dorothy. is entitled "i gave my all."

♪ ♪ >> hello. it's a long ride from up here. i just want to say i wrote this song as a gift from god. a song about dr. height and the life built around the music [inaudible] ♪ did i touch your life ♪ did i touch your heart ♪ is the world you see more of what you are ♪

♪ did i give you strength to endure the pain ♪ ♪ i at times worked hard ♪ did you speak my name ♪ is your life fulfilled ♪ do you long for more ♪ made the tears are shed ♪ lay abundant

♪ am i all and more ♪ phill love on fuel from you ♪ has made me hold you dear ♪ to carry on ♪ to spend my life with hugh ♪ i would give my all ♪ did i give you love

♪ wasn't strong enough ♪ in the world of grace ♪ hungry for your touch ♪ did i touch your soul ♪ did you feel it, too ♪ when the night was young ♪ and i needed you ♪ i gave my all ♪ all i had and more

♪ the love i feel from you ♪ has made me whole ♪ you give me stregnth ♪ to carry on ♪ to spend my life with you i'd give my all ♪ to spend my life with you

i would give my all ♪ ♪ i'd give my everything ♪ i'd give my all [applause] [applause] >> now, joe coleman [inaudible] thank you so much. [applause] thank you. i want to bring before you a woman who i love and admire so, and it was diane watson who stood strongly for dr. height

receiving the congressional medal of honor. she's the one who pushed it through. please welcome congressman diane watson. [applause] >> i, too, looked in my closet and looked upon the shelf. i live in los angeles, that is where my hat's our bill i found this one. it might be caught the wrong way. i don't know. i just threw it on my head for the leedy. and my purple, too. there is so much to honor and let me tell you this, my grandmother's mother was the slave masters child. so my grandmother got the education because at that time and, you know, your way out was education. and she talked to me about mary mcleod bethune, mrs. roosevelt, and marcus garvey.

they always wanted to go back to africa. but it was mary mcleod bethune that passed the mantle of leadership to dorothy height h19. and so, because -- and i must've been three or four years of -- when i came here to congress, i came on a mission. and i knew that in my her freshman year i had to honor this great lady upon his shoulders i stand on and all of my colleagues. and so it was my honor to ensure that our own hero receive one of the highest honors our country can bestow. but i did not do it alone. i did it along with the members of the house and the senate.

and as i was working to get the signatures necessary i would slide in net next to those on the other side of the aisle. and i said i am carrying a gold medal for dorothy height. who is dorothy height? malae represent hollywood, so i went into and i said you don't know who dorothy height ase? i would whisper in their years. i said don't let anyone know that you do not know who dorothy height is. [applause] they would lean over and i would lean in and i said she proceeded rosa parks. my goodness. and mary mcleod bethune chose her to carry her legacy because mary mcleod bethune started the first college for college girls

and negro women. where can i signed? and we got the appropriate signatures. so i want you to know we must always tell our history because we come off of a continent where our history was always oral. so as we leave this place tonight and leave the church tomorrows let's let those living in now and those yet unborn know that dorothy height lived and loved and served among us. dorothy, we will see you soon. god bless you. [applause] >> before we bring you the beloved alexis herman people a

year from the council of negro women so please begin to make your way to the podium, dr. schorr. please come up. and are you still here? if she's not, tell her we call her name. she has been working so hard with alexis on the program, donner who was just feeding us the information about so many of the things that dr. dorothy had done that were buried in the archives and donna unearthed them. please come forward, dr. shore. [applause] >> good evening. i am barbara shaw and by vice president -- and sorry, vice chair of the council of negro women, and that was elected by our national board as the interim chair person, a position

i would rather our mother, our beloved leaders still carry for us. but god in his infinite power decided was time to call home his child. so on behalf of the board, the national board of directors, it is my pleasure to greet this marvelous family, the affiliate's members and we also greet all of our sponsors, all of our partners, and we say thank you for what you have done through the years for the national council negro women. we will continue to carry the legacy. at this time i would like to recognize, and i think it's so

important for you to know that for the past almost a year where is she, dr. thelma daily, i want you to come up here. [applause] we have to acknowledge her. she is the senior advisor to the council and a member of the executive committee. she has generously given up her time and her talent. down through the years but especially during these challenging times she has taken the council in the direction dr. height would have her do it under dr. height's direction. and now that dr. height has gone

to the great beyond the doctor daily along with myself and the members of the governor's committee and the executive board would continue the work of the council. we thank you for your support and asked you continue to pray that you will support us in our 75th year please pass forward the envelopes that you have. [applause] and i want to say i love the title that was given in the program but i do not hold a ph.d. but a degree in another area. thank you very much for your kindness. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. we are coming to the end of this

amazing gathering attribute and a gift of love to the spirit of dr. dorothy irene height and we are going to ask everybody to please just be still for a moment as we bring up alexis herman and we want a family to exit before any of us do and please, please remember you know that even in the good times dr. dorothy had to struggle for money. who steps up as we should for black women we must step up. i'm going to ask you please make sure you have envelopes and that he feels the envelopes with whatever you can and if you don't have cash or a check to night that he would call the national council and make a donation with your credit card. this is the work that we must do. we must sustain the movement, elevate and move it forward. so i bring to you alexis herman,

the honorable alexis herman whose vision and power and hard work laid to this amazing attribute to night. putting this together in such short time and something that is beyond any of our ability to really understand. and we know that dr. dorothy loved her as her daughter and men did you for nearly 40 years. so we called you fourth, alexis. alexis herman, the u.s. department of labor secretary. secretary of the u.s. department of labor, that was one of the proudest moments i think in all of our lives. thank you for all that you do and for all that you've done. thank you, alexis herman, for supporting dr. dorothy so magnificently. andy spirit and dr. dorothy did leave you alone with your

beautiful partners, charles. stand and let people see you, alexis's wonderful and beautiful husband. [applause] please, come and greet u >> good evening. i really have no closing remarks tonight. i only wanted to come here tonight to say thank you. i want to say this before on behalf of dorothy's sister and on behalf of the council family come to each of you for being here and for staying, and you are right we are ending exactly the way that dorothy probably would have ended a program tonight. i want to thank you, susan, for

guiding us through this magnificent evening of song and tribute. so very special and we love you so much. [applause] i want to thank lea dewitt don't know if she is still in the house that we had terrific volunteer team that can together this entire week including the memorial celebration tomorrow at the cathedral. rather than closing remarks, we should end dorothy height's style tonight with a closing song. so as you journey safely home tonight, and as we see you for the home ongoing celebration tomorrow let us stand and sing dorothy's song. >> we all know the song.

here we go. ♪ let me call you sweetheart ♪ hauer i love ♪ ♪ ♪ let me call you sweetheart i'm in love with you ♪ ♪ let me call you sweetheart

♪ let me hear you whisper ♪ that you love me, too ♪ keep the love light glowing ♪ and you're always so true ♪ let me call you sweetheart ♪ i'm in love with you ♪ >> thank you. good night. [inaudible conversations]