Hazel Nell Dukes died at 92 – American activist
Biography and cause of death of Hazel Nell Dukes
One American activist who lived from March 17, 1932, to March 1, 2025, was Hazel Nell Dukes. Her leadership roles included leading the NAACP’s New York State branch and serving as the organization’s national president.
Hazel Nell Dukes Origins of formal schooling
On March 17, 1932, Dukes came into this world in Montgomery, Alabama. Alice and Edward Dukes had no other children but her. Her dad worked as a porter at Pullman. She decided to pursue a career in education and enrolled at Alabama State Teachers College in 1949. But she began her studies in business administration at Nassau Community College when her family relocated to New York City in 1955.
The University of Adelphi awarded Dukes a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1978. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree from Queens College.
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, City University of New York’s Medgar Evers College, and City University of New York’s Queens College Law School were the institutions from which she obtained three honorary doctorate degrees.
Hazel Nell Dukes Career
She battled housing discrimination while residing in Roslyn, Long Island. In the ’60s, she was an employee of the “head start” program run by President Lyndon B. Johnson. She became the first African-American to have a position in the Nassau County Attorney’s Office in 1966. She educated low-income kids and then became a community organizer for Nassau County’s Economic Opportunity Commission.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, when Reagan and Bush were president, she was unflinchingly vocal. Reforming educational practices and advancing civil rights were Duke’s primary goals.
In his role as president of the NAACP, Dukes oversaw the organization’s national operations from 1989 until 1992.
After 25 years of social work with the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation (NYCOTB), Dukes was chosen head of the organization in 1990.
Hazel Nell Dukes pleaded guilty to one count of attempted grand larceny in 1997. While Dukes was the manager of that organization, she stole $13,000 from a handicapped NYCOTB worker who had authorized her to handle the worker’s credit union account.
The mayor of New York City, David Dinkins, chose Dukes to lead the NYCOTB. [10] Rudy Giuliani, who ran against Dinkins for mayor of New York City in 1993 and lost, openly criticized Dukes for her leadership of NYCOTB, claiming that the organization had lost money during her tenure.
Hazel Nell Dukes Death
Dukes passed away on March 1, 2025, in Harlem, New York City, at the age of 92.
Hazel Nell Dukes Reputation and how the public perceives
In 1990, Dukes was honored with the Candace Award for Community Service by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. At the 2017 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation annual conference, she was honored with the Women’s Black Agenda’s Economic and Business Award. In 2018, she was honored by both the New York State Senate and the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators with the Empire State and Nation Builder Award. At the intersection of 137th Street and Adam Clayton Boulevard in Harlem, a memorial commemorating Dukes was installed in 2019.
Dukes officially installed Kathy Hochul as New York’s governor in January 2023. A roadway in Roslyn Heights, New York, where Dukes had resided, was honorarily named “Dr. Hazel Dukes Way” in March 2023.