Hazel N. Dukes wake and funeral to be next week in Harlem
Hazel Dukes, who died on Saturday, is shown at the 103rd NAACP Convention in Houston on July 9, 2012. Credit: Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag/Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers
The wake and funeral for civil rights activist and NAACP New York State Conference president Hazel N. Dukes, who died Saturday at age 92 in her Manhattan home, will be next Tuesday and Wednesday in Harlem, officials said.
Dukes spent most of her life combating racial inequities nationally and on Long Island.
"Hazel Dukes was a barrier breaker, a glass ceiling shatterer, and a leader for millions of New Yorkers and Americans," Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Saturday.
Born in 1932 in Montgomery, Alabama, Dukes moved to Roslyn in her early 20s, where she was denied an apartment.
Dukes also pushed for voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement, participating in the March on Washington in 1963, and was elected president of the national NAACP in 1989.
She held the position for two years.
Dukes also was a recipient of various honors and recognitions during her lifetime, from an honorary doctor of laws degree, a street renaming in Roslyn Heights, and the first layperson in the United States to administer the oath of office to a governor when she swore in Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023.
Upon hearing the news of her death, Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in New York City, Nassau County and statewide.
The NAACP said services will be at Mother AME Zion Church, 140 West 137th St. in Harlem.
The wake will take place on March 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. and March 12 from 9 to 10 a.m.
A funeral is set for March 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the Harlem church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to support the NAACP's Expanding Youth and Young Adult Engagement by selecting that from the dropdown menu at nysnaacp.org/donate.
The wake and funeral for civil rights activist and NAACP New York State Conference president Hazel N. Dukes, who died Saturday at age 92 in her Manhattan home, will be next Tuesday and Wednesday in Harlem, officials said.
Dukes spent most of her life combating racial inequities nationally and on Long Island.
"Hazel Dukes was a barrier breaker, a glass ceiling shatterer, and a leader for millions of New Yorkers and Americans," Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Saturday.
Born in 1932 in Montgomery, Alabama, Dukes moved to Roslyn in her early 20s, where she was denied an apartment.
Dukes also pushed for voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement, participating in the March on Washington in 1963, and was elected president of the national NAACP in 1989.
She held the position for two years.
Dukes also was a recipient of various honors and recognitions during her lifetime, from an honorary doctor of laws degree, a street renaming in Roslyn Heights, and the first layperson in the United States to administer the oath of office to a governor when she swore in Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023.
Upon hearing the news of her death, Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in New York City, Nassau County and statewide.
The NAACP said services will be at Mother AME Zion Church, 140 West 137th St. in Harlem.
The wake will take place on March 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. and March 12 from 9 to 10 a.m.
A funeral is set for March 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the Harlem church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to support the NAACP's Expanding Youth and Young Adult Engagement by selecting that from the dropdown menu at nysnaacp.org/donate.
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Looking back at the winter's big winners in HS sports In Episode 8 of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg Sarra and Newsday's high school sports team look back on the winter sports season, this year's winners and big surprises.
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