Civil Rights Icon votes for Barack Obama
Tia Neither/Contributing Writer
Issue date: 11/9/08 Section: Politics
Ninety-six-year-old Dorothy Height was all smiles November 4. She never thought she would live to see the nation voting for a black man as president of the United States. "It's a new day," she mused, her voice tinged with emotion. "American history will never be the same.
"I'm not overly optimistic, but I am proud I lived to see this happen," the civil rights icon told the District Chronicles on the eve of casting her vote for Sen. Barack Obama, son of an African man from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
Height's first time casting a political vote was for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930's during the Great Depression.
"I was very excited to vote," Heights said of her vote for Roosevelt, another Democrat, in 1933. "As a student I was working with the poll taxes and I really felt like I achieved something wonderful. I haven't missed a political vote for anything else."
The mood of people and the country today is similar to the 1930s, she said. Back then, Roosevelt was chosen to deal with the daunting task of rebuilding an economy ravaged by the Depression.
Height suffered through the Depression as a student at New York University living on 25 cents a day. "This election is very important and very much about building the country and saving the economy, too," she said. Sen. Obama has promised to provide relief for the middle class and the unemployed.
Height also recalled Roosevelt playing a critical role in World War II and in reshaping the post-war world. As President, Obama would have to face the same challenges as he leads America out of the molasses of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Now that the elections are over, Height hopes that everyone can learn to appreciate differences, come together and recognize that all Americans have a common cause.
As for her generation, Height says that they have always been believers because they continuously struggled and fought for change. "We worked for America, when America did not work for us. We always hoped we would come to this day," Heights said.
On the events leading to the historic Nov. 4, Height said that having an African American man and a woman on a presidential ticket were truly historic. "This is a new record, no record quite like this, and to give Obama the nomination was history itself," Height said.
Height wasn't able to vote early, but she was at the polling site at Jefferson High School in Washington early Tuesday morning.
After she cast her vote she went to the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, a national organization she founded. She worked the telephones and later watched the election results.
She was in a decidedly upbeat mood. Height was particularly pleased with the involvement of young people in the campaign and elections. "They're willing to stand in line for hours because they now feel they can make a change and want to be a part of it," Height said.
"I'm not overly optimistic, but I am proud I lived to see this happen," the civil rights icon told the District Chronicles on the eve of casting her vote for Sen. Barack Obama, son of an African man from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
Height's first time casting a political vote was for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930's during the Great Depression.
"I was very excited to vote," Heights said of her vote for Roosevelt, another Democrat, in 1933. "As a student I was working with the poll taxes and I really felt like I achieved something wonderful. I haven't missed a political vote for anything else."
The mood of people and the country today is similar to the 1930s, she said. Back then, Roosevelt was chosen to deal with the daunting task of rebuilding an economy ravaged by the Depression.
Height suffered through the Depression as a student at New York University living on 25 cents a day. "This election is very important and very much about building the country and saving the economy, too," she said. Sen. Obama has promised to provide relief for the middle class and the unemployed.
Height also recalled Roosevelt playing a critical role in World War II and in reshaping the post-war world. As President, Obama would have to face the same challenges as he leads America out of the molasses of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Now that the elections are over, Height hopes that everyone can learn to appreciate differences, come together and recognize that all Americans have a common cause.
As for her generation, Height says that they have always been believers because they continuously struggled and fought for change. "We worked for America, when America did not work for us. We always hoped we would come to this day," Heights said.
On the events leading to the historic Nov. 4, Height said that having an African American man and a woman on a presidential ticket were truly historic. "This is a new record, no record quite like this, and to give Obama the nomination was history itself," Height said.
Height wasn't able to vote early, but she was at the polling site at Jefferson High School in Washington early Tuesday morning.
After she cast her vote she went to the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, a national organization she founded. She worked the telephones and later watched the election results.
She was in a decidedly upbeat mood. Height was particularly pleased with the involvement of young people in the campaign and elections. "They're willing to stand in line for hours because they now feel they can make a change and want to be a part of it," Height said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Klemani Gbelema
posted 11/18/08 @ 5:33 AM EST
Providing answer to the global problems has never actually required membership to a charter institute of race, order or creed. It took only men of shared interest in the issues confronting the lives of people and those with the ideal to remove the impediments that stoic progress towards finding human solution possible. (Continued…)
Post a Comment