A leading female voice of the civil rights movement has died.

Dorothy Height, a longtime educator, social activist, and crusader for civil rights, died Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. She was 98 years old.

Height was born in Richmond, Va. but grew up in Rankin, Penn. After being denied entrance to one college because it had already met its quota for African-American women, she attended New York University and received a bachelor's and master's degree from there. Later, she did postgraduate studies at Columbia University and the New York School of Social Work.

In 1957, she was named president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held for 40 years. She worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was on the platform beside King when he delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington, D.C. in 1963.

"When people ask me how it was working with all those men, I always say fine, but I say that also because we had our own little civil rights sisterhood," Height remembered.

After traveling around the world teaching the importance of equality, she received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Height's memoir, "Open Wide The Freedom Gates," was turned into a musical in 2005 called "If This Hat Could Talk."

"Dorothy Height inspired many. Not just women, mind you, and not just blacks, but a lot of people were moved by her words and by her actions," said former Mayor David Dinkins, the city's first African-American mayor.

Her younger sister, Anthanette Aldrige, remembered Height as a woman who spent her life fighting for social justice, desegregation, voting rights, and employment opportunities for women and people of color.

"She loved it, you know. She would always say, 'I don't have a job, I have a passion,'" said Aldrige. "She was an inspiration to a lot of people, especially the town we came from."

Recently, Height met with President Barack Obama for a summit on race and the economy. Obama called her the "godmother of the civil rights movement," and the Reverend Al Sharpton agrees with such a distinction.

"She was very committed; she was very driven. Very disciplined, never stopped. At 98 years old she never stopped," said Sharpton. "At 98 years old, she’s on the phone, guiding people and trying to make sure the issues are out front."