Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Dorothy I. Height (Author), Maya Angelou (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2003

A heroine of the Civil Rights Movement tells the remarkable story of her life, her work, and what it means to be both black and a woman. . Dorothy Height marched at civil rights rallies, sat through tense White House meetings, and witnessed every major victory in the struggle for racial equality. Yet as the sole woman among powerful, charismatic men, someone whose personal ambition was secondary to her passion for her cause, she has received little mainstream recognition--until now. In her memoir, Dr. Height, now ninety-one, reflects on a life of service and leadership. We witness her childhood encounters with racism and the thrill of New York college life during the Harlem Renaissance. We see her protest against lynchings. We sit with her onstage as Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech. We meet people she knew intimately throughout the decades: W. E. B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary McLeod Bethune, Adam Clayton Powell Sr. , Langston Hughes, and many others. And we watch as she leads the National Council of Negro Women for forty-one years, her diplomatic counsel sought by U. S. Presidents from Eisenhower to Clinton. After the fierce battles of the 1960s, Dr. Height concentrates on troubled black communities, on issues like rural poverty, teen pregnancy and black family values. In 1994, her efforts are officially recognized. Along with Rosa Parks, she receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Civil rights activist and leader Height looks back on seven decades of crucial work-as speaker, social worker, protestor; as a member of the national staff of the YWCA from 1944-1977 and president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957-1998-in this thorough but impersonal memoir. Height reports Molotov cocktails and secret civil rights meetings in back rooms, along with more quotidian aspects of racism-being invited by mistake to rush a white sorority, for example-with the same smooth tone. Although the changes Height helped bring about were dramatic, her manner is not. To adverse events, she was creative rather than reactive: her response to a TV program called "The Vanishing Black Family," for example, was to organize the Black Family Reunion celebrations. Of particular interest is her account of her close relationship with Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt, and her restoring to the history of the Civil Rights Movement the important role played by the little-known Wednesdays in Mississippi project, in which "biracial, interfaith teams of distinguished women" held weekly meetings that established "a ministry of presence." Dignity, discretion and a certain delicacy-the very elements that made her such an effective agent for social change-make her memoir a somewhat prosaic book. It chronicles days of committees, conferences and conventions, of persistent pushing for change while working within existing structures. It is a public account of public activities, an autobiographical record with none of the intimacy of the memoir. Its value for historians of the civil rights era and of black women's organizations is central, but although Height was always there, she doesn't take the reader with her. 8 page b&w photo insert not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Height has devoted her life to the struggle for civil rights. Now 91 years old and still serving as chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, Height walks us step-by-step through a remarkable lifetime of witnessing every significant event in the fight for racial equality. Most apparent is Height's focus on and tremendous devotion to furthering the progress of African American women. Amusingly, Height's matter-of-fact tone recounting her experiences belies the magnitude of their historical significance. Spanning more than 70 years, Height's memoir reads like a primer on the trajectory of the civil rights movement. From facing threats of physical harm in the integration-resistant South to her work with Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton, Dr. Height remains proud yet grounded about her accomplishments and those of her colleagues. What is most striking about this book is Height's recurring insistence (and proof!) that a sincere commitment to excellence is the tool that can afford remarkable opportunities to anyone. Terry Glover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; First Edition/First Printing edition (June 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586481576
• ISBN-13: 978-1586481575
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marching Forward, Never Defeated, August 3, 2003

By 

William Hare (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Dorothy Height carries the strength of granite and a backbone resolute with meaningful purpose. Growing up in suburban Pittsburgh, Height, now 91 and still busily at work, saw discrimination and never flinched, determined to meet adversity with an agile brain, a strong body, and an indomitable will.

As a high school girl she won an impromptu speech competition at the county level, then was forced to confront the ugly tentacles of segregation when she sought to find a place to stay as she competed in the finals in the Pennsylvania capital of Harrisburg. She learned that she was the only African-American in the competition. When she sought a drink of water prior to her speech, it was the only other person of color in the building, an African-American janitor, who escorted her to the drinking fountain. Height won the competition by tying her speech theme, the Kellogg-Briand Peace Treaty, to efforts of the black race to overcome adversity. She explained to an enthralled audience that, just as peace can only be accomplished through purposeful unity, such is also the case with respect to the races. Height won that competition.

After achieving straight A's at New York University, Height went to work for the YWCA in Manhattan. This was the beginning of a stellar career that took her to the pinnacle of African-American leadership in the women's movement, and ultimately led to a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Citizenship Award conferred on her by President Ronald Reagan in 1989. Height refers to two strong women of principle and achievement who served as role model beacons for the bright and enterprising young woman. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was someone she would admire and come to know well. Her other major influence was the daughter of slaves, the remarkable Mary McCleod Bethune, who would overcome a painful asthma condition to become a leading achiever for women of all races, and who founded a college, Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida.

As a professor at Moorehouse College in Atlanta in 1945, Height met and taught a remarkable 14-year-old as part of the school's gifted student program. She saw the promise in young Martin Luther King and was by his side at the 1963 March on Washington organized by prominent labor leader A. Philip Randolph, the president of the sleeping car porters' union,with whose vision for racial progress she synchronized.

In terms of the present, Height sees the Democratic Party as taking African-Americans for granted and Republicans of being neglectful of their needs and aspirations except when it serves their purposes to be attentive. All the same, rather than lament conditions, she remains the eternal pragmatist. She realizes that the road to progress can be best realized in the way that the great A. Philip Randolph outlined, by uniting and working diligently to achieve purposeful goals, by lighting candles rather than cursing darkness.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Did We Get Here ?, January 14, 2004

By 

Duffer321 (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir (Hardcover)

If you'd like to gain an appreciation for a female perspective of the civil rights movement, this is a book for you. I was born in 1957 and came of age during a time when the equal rights struggle for all Americans came to the fore---people of color, gays & lesbians, female--were trying to gain a voice in society. Ms. Height speaks plainly of her involvement in projects that brought about fundamental changes in society. She relates her stories about change as it really happens: one person at a time, one family at a time, one small community at a time. Read and learn !

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I ever read!, April 4, 2009

By 

Yolanda Lehman (St. Cloud, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Wide The Freedom Gates: A Memoir (Paperback)

Open Wide The Freedom Gates: A Memoir

This is certainly the most exciting book that I use with my university students!

Without fail Ms. Dorothy Irene Height's life story energizes them to become social activists on the campus.

Her courage, determination, and positive attitude in the face racism and discrimination of many types emboldens my students to confront and uproot the same on the campus.

My students consider Ms. Height a "TRUE AMERICAN HERO." She is a role model, mentor, and "friend" to them.

I highly and unreservedly recommend this book to every person living and breathing. Undoubtedly, as you read her story, you will realize that she has done much to secure the freedom and liberty of people all around the world!

Yolanda Lehman
Adjunct Professor
St. Cloud State University
St. Cloud, MN