Hazel Dukes, the president of the New York state chapter of the NAACP and lifelong civil rights advocate, died Saturday on the age of 92.
Dukes peacefully handed away in her New York Metropolis dwelling surrounded by household, her son, Ronald Dukes, mentioned in a press release.
Dukes, who led the New York state NAACP for almost 5 a long time, fought tirelessly for voting rights, financial improvement, honest housing and schooling via her profession. Even in her 90s, she spoke out towards police brutality and for sufficient well being care in underserved neighborhoods, the NAACP’s New York State chapter mentioned in a press release.
In 2023, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton offered Dukes with the NAACP’s highest honor – the Spingarn Medal.
“I’m not drained but,” Dukes mentioned in her acceptance speech for the award. She added that she would proceed her advocacy and empower the subsequent technology of NAACP leaders.
Dukes helped lay the muse for Black ladies to ascend to the nation’s highest places of work. In 1972, she took the stage on the Democratic Nationwide Conference to second the presidential candidacy of Shirley Chisholm, the primary Black lady to run for the occasion’s nomination.
Dukes was instrumental in former president Joe Biden’s resolution to decide on a Black lady as his 2020 working mate, she famous in an interview with CBS final yr. Her career-long combat was bookended by former vice-president Kamala Harris’s 2024 bid for the presidency.
In a submit in X Saturday, Harris referred to as Dukes one of many heroes “upon whose broad shoulders we stand”.
Dukes mentioned within the CBS interview: “I’m simply happy with Kamala. I’m simply excited if I can reside to see this occur. It will be the enjoyment of my life.”
Dukes was the president of her personal consulting agency. She additionally served because the member of the NAACP nationwide board of administrators. Leaders of the NAACP mentioned in a press release Saturday that Dukes was a “residing embodiment” of the NAACP and that her legacy has touched each side of the motion.
The New York Metropolis mayor, Eric Adams, ordered flags to be lowered at half-staff as a tribute to Dukes.
Supply hyperlink