Spirit of King Honors Dorothy I. Height and Dr. Curtis L. Walker

Dorothy I. Height and Dr. Curtis L. Walker were honored Jan. 14, during the 2016 Spirit of King Award ceremony at the Kingsley Center in East Liberty.

Established in 1989, the Spirit of King Award is presented annually by Port Authority, the Kingsley Association, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New Pittsburgh Courier. The award posthumously honors the lifetime achievements of local citizens who pursue human rights and equality in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dorothy I. Height was a civil rights and women’s rights activist who devoted her life to helping African American women overcome issues of illiteracy, unemployment and voter awareness. Height was described upon her death in April 2010 as the “Godmother of the American Civil Rights Movement” by President Barack Obama.

A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, Presidential Citizens Medal, the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom from Want Award, Ms. Height’s honors also include an induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and being enshrined on The Extra Mile Memorial in Washington D.C. in 2005.

Dr. Curtis L. Walker had a long and very successful career in education – first as a teacher, then as a top administrator – for Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Dr. Walker became the first Director of the Consultative Resources Center on School Desegregation and Conflict at the University of Pittsburgh in 1970 and served as an assistant professor and adjunct associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Administration. He later served as the Deputy Superintendent, Associate Superintendent and Executive Officer of the Pittsburgh School District’s Equity, Compliance and Community Relations Department, a position for which his main duties were overseeing district expectations for minority and female participation in the offices of facilities and purchasing. 

Among Dr. Walker’s greatest achievements prior to his death in October 2006 at the age of 73 was his role in organizing the Pittsburgh Chapter of the United Negro College Fund and involvement with the American Association of School Administrators, the National and Greater Pittsburgh Alliance of Black School Educators and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

For more information on Dorothy I. Height and Dr. Curtis L. Walker, as well as past Spirit of King honorees, please visit Port Authority’s Spirit of King Awards page.