The New York Times reported this morning that Dorothy Height, leader of the Nation Council of Negro Woman for 40 years, has died at the age of 98.

Height was a familiar face in marches with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She sat on the platform at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 in Washington when King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

She was president of the National Council of Negro Woman in 1957 until 1997.

President Bill Clinton awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.

She was a native of Richmond, Va. Her family moved to Pittsburgh when she was 4 years old.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New York University and worked on a doctorate at Columbia University.