Hazel Dukes, trailblazing civil rights activist and longtime Long Islander, dies
Hazel Dukes, a trailblazing civil rights activist and longtime Long Islander, died at her home Saturday in New York City, according to the NAACP New York State Conference. She was 92.
Credit: Newsday/Alan Raia
Hazel N. Dukes, a native of Alabama, moved to Roslyn in 1956, where she fought housing discrimination and eventually helped to elect the first black member of the Roslyn school board.
Credit: Newsday File Photo/Newsday/Stan Wolfson
Hazel N. Dukes, Roslyn Branch and Althea T.L. Simmons are shown in this Jan. 28, 1969 photo.
Credit: Newsday/Ozier Muhammad
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate David Dinkins and Hazel N. Dukes, president of the New York Metropolitan branch of the NAACP, give "thumbs ups" to the crowd at the funeral of Yusef Hawkins in 1989 in Brooklyn.
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Gen. Colin Powell is presented with the NAACP 1991 Spingarn Award by Benjamin Hooks, William Gibson and president Hazel N. Dukes in 1991.
Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa
Hazel N. Dukes joins members of civic groups, teacher and parents in 2005.
Credit: Newsday Staff Photographer/George Tsourovakas
New York NAACP president Hazel N. Dukes introduces Frances Terry, 90, to Bruce Gordon, the president of the National NAACP, in 2006.
Credit: AFP via Getty Images/DON EMMERT
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton embraces Hazel N. Dukes in 2008 at the Manhattan Center.
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Hazel N. Dukes during the 103rd NAACP Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2012 in Houston.
Credit: Heather Walsh
Hazel N. Dukes and Tracey Edwards show their support for Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the national NAACP, as he speaks on Oct. 10, 2015, in Melville.
Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Hazel N. Dukes, NAACP New York State president, addresses the crowd at the 11th Long Island Biennial luncheon in Woodbury in 2016.
Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Hazel N. Dukes, a prominent force in addressing housing discrimination in Roslyn, where she once lived, at a luncheon in 2016.
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Hazel N. Dukes at the National Action Network headquarters in Manhattan in 2016.
Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Hazel N. Dukes talks at a rally for Colin Kaepernick outside NFL headquarters in Manhattan on Aug. 23, 2017.
Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
New York NAACP president Hazel N. Dukes speaks during the New York State Democratic Convention in New York on Feb. 17, 2022.
Credit: Howard Schnapp
Longtime NAACP president Hazel N. Dukes is honored with a lifetime achievement award at Judea United Baptist Church on Jan. 16, 2023, in Hempstead.
Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
The Town of North Hempstead hosted a street naming ceremony honoring civil rights activist Hazel N. Dukes on her 91st birthday in 2023.
Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
Hazel N. Dukes is honored at a street renaming ceremony in Roslyn on March 18, 2023.
Credit: Rick Kopstein
Christopher Alexander, executive director of the New York State NAACP, reacts Saturday to the news of the death of Hazel N. Dukes.
Credit: Rick Kopstein
L. Joy Williams, first vice president of the New York State NAACP, will become Dukes' successor as president of the NAACP New York State.
Credit: Rick Kopstein
Tracey Edwards, Long Island Regional Director of the New York State NAACP, decided to continue with the reception because Dukes "... would have my behind if I did not have this meeting.”
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