US civil rights leader dies, 98

DOROTHY HEIGHT, a longtime leader of the US civil rights movement and the chairwoman of the National Council of Negro Women, died yesterday in Washington. She was 98.

Trained as a social worker, Height began her career as an advocate for civil rights and gender equality during the 1930s, working to prevent lynching, desegregate the US armed forces, reform the criminal justice system and work for free access to public accommodation in the United States.

“Ms Height was arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of civil rights leadership, but she never drew the major media attention that conferred celebrity and instant recognition on some of the other civil rights leaders of her time,” the Washington Post said in an obituary in its online edition.