By TaRessa Stovall

Who will pick up the baton?

When civil rights pioneers Drs. Benjamin Hooks and Dorothy Height passed away in mid-April, the question ricocheted through cyberspace, amid tributes to the pair of visionary legends as stalwarts of a movement that created the America we know today.

As we appreciate the power and significance of their incomparable contributions, we see that their passing brings us that much closer to the end of an era. And leads us to ponder what’s next.

Both were warriors of focused passion and unwavering purpose. Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., best summed up their contributions: “[Height] was 98, grand dame of the civil-rights movement, founder of the Black Family Reunion, fighter for women’s rights and, for 40 years, president of the National Council of Negro Women. [Hooks] was 85, organizer of lunch counter sit-ins during the 19670s, leader for the NAACP for 16 years, and first black member of the Federal Communications Commission, from which perch he pushed for minority ownership of television and radio stations.”

They didn’t start out as legends. Dorothy Height and Benjamin Hooks had many illustrious and hard-working colleagues in their struggles for a better America. What set them apart were the length, breadth and depth of their leadership, the institutions they headed, and the example of long, full lives lived devoted to service.

Height and Hooks worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Farmer, Jr., Margaret Bush Wilson, Percy Sutton, Roy Wilkins, Odetta, Ella Baker, and Septima Poinsette Clark, to name a few. When these leaders pass on, the challenge deepens for those of us who stand on their shoulders and walk in their proud, brave footsteps.

Those leaders who still walk with us continue to pose the question, as we ponder their physical mortality and their historic immortality. The Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, 88, widely known as the slyly outspoken lion of the Civil Rights Movement, who served as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and delivered what USA Today called “an impassioned benediction” at President Barack Obama’s Inauguration, was hospitalized in February with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung).

Congressman John Lewis made recent headlines when he was reportedly attacked with racial slurs during Tea Party protests in the nation’s capital.

Former Atlanta Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young, now a documentary filmmaker, recently won a trio of Emmy Awards for his syndicated television series, “Andrew Young Presents…” Former Georgia Congressman Julian Bond, now chairs the NAACP.

Through changing times and professional reinventions, in and out of the spotlight, each of these icons has left an indelible imprint on the world they have labored to change. In so doing, they charge us to consider the future of leadership, even as a black man serves as the leader of our nation and a global force of power today.

There is no question that the rise of President Barack Obama is the most profound tree to sprout from the seeds that Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks and their peers planted and so diligently nurtured in the soil of change. Yet his election was a symbol not that the battles have been won, but that they are moving to a larger stage with higher stakes and the potential for even more far-reaching outcomes.

The need for equality and social justice is as profound as ever. Let’s begin the conversation about the face of leadership today and whether the best place to find it is with the man or the woman in the mirror.

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline.