Dorothy Irene Height, a leader of the African-American and women's rights movements in the United States, has died at the age of 98, PRESS TV reported.
Height, who led the National Council for Negro Women from 1957 to 1998, also accompanied Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She was one of the leading members during the 1963 march in Washington when King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech.
Born in Virginia in 1912, she devoted her life to the struggle for equality. She was always present at key battles for racial equality since the 1930s.
Former US President Bill Clinton awarded her the presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest civilian honor - in 1994 and Congress presented her a Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.
Height died on Tuesday of natural causes at Howard University Hospital in Washington, where she had been receiving medical care for weeks.