BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN REAR ADMIRAL : REAR ADMIRAL MICHELLE HOWARD OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY : AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD INB DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIY :

Rear Admiral Michelle Howard, US Navy

			American Legion Auxiliary Washington Square Unit 1212 Empowering women, Inspiring Communities

First African American Woman Rear Admiral!		First African American Woman Rear Admiral Rear Admiral USN, Michelle Howard Rear Admiral Michelle Howard is a 1978 graduate of Gateway High School in Aurora, Colo. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 and from the Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1998, with a master's degree in Military Arts and Sciences. Howard’s initial sea tours were aboard USS Hunley (AS 31) and USS Lexington (AVT 16). While serving onboard Lexington, she received the Secretary of the Navy/Navy League Captain Winifred Collins award in May 1987. This award is given to one woman officer a year for outstanding leadership. She reported to USS Mount Hood (AE 29) as chief engineer in 1990 and served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. She assumed duties as first lieutenant onboard the USS Flint (AE 32) in July 1992. In January 1996, she became the executive officer of USS Tortuga (LSD 46) and deployed to the Adriatic in support of Operation Joint Endeavor, a peacekeeping effort in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. 60 days after returning from the Mediterranean deployment, Tortuga departed on a West African Training Cruise, where the ship’s Sailors, with embarked Marines and U.S. Coast Guard detachment, operated with the naval services of seven African nations. She took command of USS Rushmore (LSD 47) on 12 March 1999, becoming the first African American woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy. Howard was the Commander of Amphibious Squadron 7 from May 2004 to September 2005. Deploying with Expeditionary Strike Group 5, operations included tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia and maritime security operations in the North Persian Gulf. Her shore assignments include: course coordinator/instructor for the Steam Engineering Officer of the Watch course; action officer and Navy’s liaison to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Military Services in the Bureau of Personnel; Action Officer J-3, Global Operations, Readiness on the Joint Staff from 2001-2003; executive assistant to the Joint Staff Director of Operations from February 2003 to February 2004; and deputy director N3 on the OPNAV Staff from December 2005 to July 2006; deputy director, Expeditionary Warfare Division, OPNAV staff from July 2006 to December 2006. She was the senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy from January 2007 to January 2009 and currently serves as Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 2. According to NPR, she was the commander of the Combined Task Force 151, a multinational, counter-piracy task force when Navy SEALs rescued Captain Richard Phillips from pirates where he was held hostage off the coast of Somalia. Three pirates were killed and a fourth is in U.S. custody.She spoke to NPR from the USS Boxer at sea. In a moment, we're going to hear more about that fourth pirate and whether he'll face a U.S. court. But first, we are joined by Rear Admiral Michelle Howard, who is commander of the Combined Task Force 151. That's a multinational, counter-piracy task force. She joins us from the USS Boxer at sea. She explained to Mr. Siegel at NPR the goals:  Rear Admiral HOWARD: "Sir, we need to continue to work here at sea, particularly strengthen our relationships with our international partners out here, the other navies. And we need to get focused on what the pirates are doing, and try to define where the areas are that they are working, and focus on those areas."

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN DOROTHY HEIGHTS A FEMALE CIVIL RIGHTS AND WOMEN'S ACTIVIST : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                              BLACK           SOCIAL           HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                Born in Virginia in 1912, Dorothy Height was a civil rights and women's rights activist focused primarily on improving the circumstances of and opportunities for African-American women. She was a leader in addressing the rights of both women and African Americans as the president of the National Council of Negro Women. In the 1990s, she drew young people into her cause in the war against drugs,

Quotes

"I have been in the proximity of, and threatened by, the Klan; I have been called everything people of color are called; I have been denied admission because of a quota. I've had all of that, but I've also learned that getting bitter is not the way."

– Dorothy Height

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illiteracy and unemployment. The numerous honors bestowed upon her include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2004). She died on April 20, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

Early Life

Born on March 24, 1912, in Richmond, Virginia, African-American activist Dorothy Height spent her life fighting for civil rights and women's rights. The daughter of a building contractor and a nurse, Height moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania, in her youth. There, she attended racially integrated schools.
In high school, Height showed great talent as an orator. She also became socially and politically active, participating in anti-lynching campaigns. Height's skills as a speaker took her all the way to a national oratory competition. Winning the event, she was awarded a college scholarship.
Height had applied to and been accepted to Barnard College in New York, but as the start of school neared, the college changed its mind about her admittance, telling Height that they had already met their quota for black students. Undeterred, she applied to New York University, where she would earn two degrees: a bachelor's degree in education in 1930 and a master's degree in psychology in 193B2.

BLACK  SOCIAL  HISTORY       -           Tireless Activist

After working for a time as a social worker, Height joined the staff of the Harlem YWCA in 1937. She had a life-changing encounter not long after starting work there. Height met educator and founder of the National Council of Negro Women Mary McLeod Bethune when Bethune and U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit her facility. Height soon volunteered with the NCNW and became close to McLeod.
One of Height's major accomplishments at the YWCA was directing the integration of all of its centers in 1946. She also established its Center for Racial Justice in 1965, which she ran until 1977. In 1957, Height became the president of the National Council of Negro Women. Through the center and the council, she became one of the leading figures of the Civil Rights Movement. Height worked with Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, John Lewis and James Farmer—sometimes called the "Big Six" of the Civil Rights Movement—on different campaigns and initiatives.
In 1963, Height was one of the organizers of the famed March on Washington. She stood close to Martin Luther King Jr. when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Despite her skills as a speaker and a leader, Height was not invited to talk that day.
Height later wrote that the March on Washington event had been an eye-opening experience for her. Her male counterparts "were happy to include women in the human family, but there was no question as to who headed the household," she said, according to the Los Angeles Times