for men like w.d. du bois and a. phillip randolph, women like mary and betty fredane. there are americans whose names we know. they are leaders whose legacies we teach. they are giants who fill our history books while dr. dorothy height deserves a place in this pantheon. she, too, deserves a place in our history books. she, too, deserves a place of honor in america s memory. look at her body of work. desegregating the ywca. laying the groundwork for integration on wednesdays in mississippi. lending pigs to poor farmers as a sustainable source of income,
council of negro women, by leading delta sigma theta sorority incorporated. she was part of a movement of african-american women, many of them with relatively more middle-class status than many other african-americans who lived by a sort of dignified code that said, as we climb, we are lifting. and so, in fact, she s part of an entire generation of african-american women who were doing this work. she is just really sort of the iconic leader of that group. melissa, i know you ll stay with me through the hour as we keep our eye on this memorial service. a real tribute to the life and to the work of dr. dorothy height. thank you very much. msnbc will have live coverage of the president s eulogy of dorothy height coming up minutes from now on msnbc. big news out of florida today, governor charlie crist is expected to bolt the republican party to become an independent. how did this one-time gop rock star fall from grace? and the question here, could others be next? plus, rocker bret m
hosting this tribute here. let me bring in melissa harris-lacewell. when you re looking at the tribute for this and the list of people who are willing to get up and lend their names to what an impact she had on the progress of the united states, can you give me any personal and i am watching here for president obama to come up and take the podium, so i may interrupt you, melissa. just briefly, the impact she had on your life. sure. well, so dorothy height, i think, for many women of my generation, we all have personal stories in that we remember seeing her. we remember seeing her at all of these important moments. earlier it wasn t quite covered, but it was on the webcast. camille cosby, the wife of bill cosby, stood up and spoke about how part of what dorothy height s leadership was about was not only pushing back against racial inequality, but pushing back against patriarchy
womanhood. she she wasn t interested in credit. what she cared about was the cause. the cause of justice and the cause of equality, the cause of opportuni opportunity, freedom s cause, that willingness to subsume herself, that humility and that grace is why we honor dr. dorothy height. as it is written in the gospel of matthew, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled. and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. i don t think the author of the gospel would mind me rephrasing whoever humbles herself will be exalted.
money officials in europe scrambling to prevent the debt crisis in greece from dragging other nations into a continentwide financial meltdown. european and german officials are assuring markets they re working quickly to approve a bailout for greece. its debt status was reduced to junk this week, and the country may need up to $158 billion to stay afloat over the next three years. let s take a look at the market boards here in the united states. dow jones industrial average up almost 100 points on the day. the s&p is having a pretty good day as well, up almost 12.5%. and the nasdaq up 20 points. let me go back to the memorial service right now. this is for dr. dorothy height. and right now, as you can see there, are a list of incredible people. this is dr. barbara shaw who is the interim chair of the national council of negro women. any moment now we are expected to see president obama giving the eulogy. this is a service conducted at the washington national cathedral who is which is