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Honorary Degree Recipient DOROTHY F. COTTON "We all can be more. Like a caterpillar in a cocoon, you could grow wings. And when you're ready and your wings are strong, you candy and soar to great heights." These words by Dorothy Cotton recorded in an issue of Southern Exposure in 1982 exemplify the philosophy of this extraordinary woman known not only for spearheading the Civil Rights Movement, but as a creator of educational programs in the South, a great listener, a lecturer, a facilitator, a peacemaker, and a visionary. Dorothy Lee Foreman was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina,. After her mother's death when she was only three years old, she and her three sisters were raised by their father, Claude Daniel Foreman, a tobacco factory worker. Dorothy remained with her father until leaving to attend Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she supported herself by working as housekeeper to the university president. She transferred and followed her employer when he took the presidency of Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia, the college from which she later graduated with a degree in English and Library Science. Those years were the prelude to a life devoted to learning and teaching. After graduation, Dorothy married George Cotton, whom she had met in college. She later enrolled at Boston University where she received her master's degree in Speech Therapy in 1960. While completing work for her master's, she became active in the Civil Rights Movement. For the next 12 years she held the position of Education Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The only female member of his Executive Staff, Dorothy became one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s closest confidantes. Her presence in SCLC's inner circle put her at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement as a planner, coordinator, and demonstration leader. While at SCLC, Dorothy ran the Citizenship Education Program, training the disenfranchised on the importance of political participation, voter registration, and nonviolent protest. Dorothy continued at the SCLC after Dr. King's assassination in 1968 and later became Southern Regional Director for ACTION, the federal agency for volunteer programs. She also worked briefly at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for NonViolent Change. After more than two decades of intense involvement in civil rights activities, Dorothy dedicated ten years to Cornell University, serving as Director of Student Activities. She later founded her own consulting company, Dorothy Cotton & Associates, which conducts seminars on leadership development, individual empowerment, and social change. Dorothy is also one of the founding members of the National Citizenship School, devoted to teaching people how to create publicly accountable institutions that reflect high democratic ideals and enhance the capacity of every individual to live a meaningful life. For her ability and courage to promote nonviolent social change; for advancing education as the best way to achieve both civic responsibility and civil rights; for fearlessly facing the challenges of defending the rights of the disenfranchised; for teaching us that we all possess the gift to be better, give more, and reach higher, The College of New Rochelle confers on Dorothy F. Cotton the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa. Dr Cotton has also received Honorary Doctoral Degrees from the University of New England in 1982 and Spellman College in 1999. |
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