OPEN WIDE THE FREEDOM GATES [Inscribed]

Height, Dorothy [Author]; Angelou, Maya [Foreword]

ISBN 10: 1586481576 / ISBN 13: 9781586481575

Published by Public Affairs, New York, New York, 2003

About this Item

Octavo, 322 pages. In Very Good condition with Near Fine condition dust jacket. Spine is brown with white and gold lettering. Dust jacket protected by mylar covering, price uncut: "$26.00" on front flap. Boards have mild shelving wear along spine head and tail, mild denting along spine tail. Textblock interior has two small rust-colored stains along front free endpaper (bookplate unmarred). Inscribed "Happy Birthday to Marie! Great success" and dated "7/28/03" by Dorothy Height. 1399384. Special Collections - Downstairs.

Seller Inventory # 1399384

Bibliographic Details

• Title: OPEN WIDE THE FREEDOM GATES [Inscribed]
• Publisher: Public Affairs, New York, New York
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1586481576
• ISBN 13: 9781586481575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition, Third Printing.
• Dust Jacket Condition: dj
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • African-Americana
  • US History

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Dr. Dorothy Height has more than twenty honorary degrees. In addition to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she has received the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal and the Citizens Medal Award, which President Ronald Reagan awarded her in 1989. Now 91, she continues to serve as chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women. She lives in Washington, D.C.