Photo courtesy of Pixnio
March 1 (UPI) — Former NAACP New York State Conference president and longtime civil rights activist Hazel Dukes died at age 92, her family announced Saturday.
“Mom departed this life peacefully surrounded by her loving family,” her son, Ronald Dukes, said in a statement published Saturday by the New York Daily News.
“Mom was a committed civil rights leader in New York City and the nation and worked tirelessly on the front line almost to the end,” Dukes said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered all flags on city buildings to be lowered to half-staff to honor Dukes.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul likewise ordered flags on all state buildings to be lowered to half-staff.
“The leadership, courage and bravery of Hazel Dukes transformed New York for the better,” Hochul said Saturday in a news release.
“Her unwavering commitment to the fight for civil rights transformed lives and uplifted our communities,” Hochul said. “New York is forever indebted to her for the courage, strength and love she brought to every battle.”
Dukes was born in Montgomery, Ala., in 1932 and moved to New York in 1955, where she became involved in community organizing on behalf of the Economic Commission of Nassau County.
Former President Lyndon Johnson appointed Dukes to the Head Start early childhood education program that he created in the 1960s, and she became the first Black to hold a position within the Nassau County Attorney’s Office.
Dukes eventually moved to Harlem, where she became a local NAACP leader in the 1990s and worked on local and national political initiatives.
“No words can convey the devastation that this loss brings upon us as individuals and the NAACP as an organization,” NAACP Chairman Leon Russell, Vice Chair Karen Boykin Towns and President and Chief Executive Officer Derrick Johnson said in a joint statement.
“She led with conviction, always put her community first and stood up to those who tried to bring us down,” the NAACP leaders said. “There is no corner of the movement that has been untouched by Dr. Dukes’ legacy.”
The NAACP leaders said her legacy “will outlive us all” and “we hold her memory close to our hearts while carrying the torch she lit.”
David Johansen
David Johansen arrives on the red carpet at the New York premiere of “Vinyl” at Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on January 15, 2016. Johansen, the New York Dolls lead singer, who also performed under the name of Buster Poindexter, has died at the age of 75 on February 28. He had been sick with Stage 4 cancer, a brain tumor and a broken back.
Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo