It is such a dramatic quote that it has influenced and remained with the renowned human and civil rights leader, Dr. Dorothy I. Height, through most of her adult life. “Dont’ tell me that you have done your best, your best is not good enough, it has to be excellent, this is a black newspaper.” This is “The Negro World.” An exact quote uttered from the mouth of Marcus Garvey, the leader of the largest movement during the 1920s, the Pan African movement, everyday to his staff. Height, who at 21 had the opportunity to be a part of Garvey’s staff with the job of proofreading pages of “The Negro World” is still living by these profound words today. “To be black, means you have to be the best,” says Height. Born in Richmond, Va., Height received a master’s degree through scholarship at New York University, Height was a giant of the Civil Rights Movement. Today she calls for our students and youth to march ahead with the sincere and distinct purpose of being something greater than we could ever imagine. “Our youth are afraid to lead. This is the first generation amongus that will not superceed the last. That is not a good position to be in and whatever we do to save our youth is going to save our future.”On March 22, 2004, the Winston-Salem State University Division of Student Affairs sponsored the “Women’s Symposium” in honor of Women’s History Month. A small press conference for Dr. Dorothy I. Height was held prior to the actual lucheon in the Albert H. nderson Conference Center. Dr. Height, president-emerita of the National Negro Council, expressed her agitations, obligations, and solutions for students and more accurately, the youth and the future of African-Americans. When a black women born March 24, 1912 enters the room for the soul purpose of presenting her golden words of wisdoms and experience one had better listen and if one doesn’t care to, then you my friend are lost, her words are undoubtedly valuable. During the Civil Rights Movement, Height was the same age as many of the students here at WSSU. She stressed that “students,” carried the Civil Rights Movement, not “old people,” referring to her generation.”Many young people are moving in the right direction, butit is disheartening to realize that too few who are going through open doors and don’t understand how they were opened that they made it on their own. I think they have to come to understand what the struggle has been, that it is not over and they have alot more to accomplish.” Height who referred to the obligations of today’s African-American youth. “We need to understand the role the youth played…They think the Civil Rights Movement was Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech and the March on Washington about Dr. King and his dreams. Dr. King was not assasinated because he had a dream, but because he was changing a system. She said that is not fully changed, Look at the violence in our schools, there are so many places we have to takeleadership. You are not the leaders for tomorrow, you are the youth leaders for today, then you become the adult leaders for tommorow …t he younger generation has to realize that they are the inheriters and that they are the daughters and sons of a great revolution in civil rights and unless they keep building on it our country will be worse off.” Height offered her opinion on a solution. “You have a great history, you have to began by realizing you are a very special person who belongs to a very special race of people and you have so much to be proud of. And where you are today, however hard it seems you are having the benefits of what a lot of people have done before you. What you have to do, what everyone has to do, is to determine what kind of life do you want to live, not what you want to get or have, but what do you want to be, what kind of things are you interested in that help you shape what it is you want to be, it’s the being. Everything we do that is our history helps us get a background, if young people would listen to it then we can move ahead-listen to it.” Height’s powerful demeanor of knowledge, bravery, and hope consumes her as a person. Her entire life has been dedicated to the struggle and she made it apparent that it is the youth’s responsibility to carry the torch. Recognizing that it is not an easy goal, and none of her accomplishments ever were, she explains that her generations reality was not a “holy society” either. Also to remember, in the words of Margret Meede, “the world was never changed by a majority vote, it has always been a small group of people who keep drawing into themselves a hospitable bridge.