New York K 160: Mourning the death of Hazel N. Dukes, longtime civil rights stalwart and distinguished member of her community

Bill Text

Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

 Skip to main content 

 New York State Assembly

 Speaker Carl E. Heastie

 --> 
 --> 

 --> 

• 
 Assembly Members 

• 
 Legislative Info 

• 
 Public Hearings 

• 
 Speaker's Press 

• 
 Assembly Reports 

• 
 Committees & More 

• Bill Search Home
• Laws
• Legislative Calendar
• Public Hearing Schedule
• Assembly Calendars
• Assembly Committee Agenda 

 Javascript must be enabled to properly view this page. 

 - This bill is not active in this session.

 Bill No.: 

• Summary 
• Actions 
• Committee&nbspVotes 
• Floor&nbspVotes 
• Memo 
• Text 
• LFIN 
• Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript 
K00160 Summary:

BILL NOK00160 

&nbsp

SAME ASNo Same As

&nbsp

SPONSORWright

&nbsp

COSPNSRHeastie, Peoples-Stokes, Pretlow, Hunter

&nbsp

MLTSPNSRAlvarez, Anderson, Barrett, Benedetto, Berger, Bichotte Hermelyn, Bores, Braunstein, Bronson,
 Burdick, Burke, Burroughs, Buttenschon, Carroll P, Carroll R, Chandler-Waterman, Clark, Colton,
 Conrad, Cook, Cruz, Cunningham, Dais, Davila, De Los Santos, Dilan, Dinowitz, Eachus, Eichenstein,
 Epstein, Fall, Forrest, Gallagher, Gibbs, Glick, Gonzalez-Rojas, Griffin, Hevesi, Hooks, Hyndman,
 Jackson, Jacobson, Jones, Kassay, Kay, Kelles, Kim, Lasher, Lavine, Lee, Levenberg, Lucas,
 Lunsford, Lupardo, Magnarelli, Mamdani, McDonald, McMahon, Meeks, Mitaynes, O'Pharrow, Otis,
 Paulin, Pheffer Amato, Raga, Rajkumar, Ramos, Reyes, Rivera, Romero, Rosenthal, Rozic,
 Santabarbara, Sayegh, Schiavoni, Seawright, Septimo, Shimsky, Shrestha, Simon, Simone, Solages,
 Steck, Stern, Stirpe, Tapia, Taylor, Torres, Valdez, Vanel, Walker, Weprin, Wieder, Williams,
 Woerner, Yeger, Zaccaro, Zinerman

&nbsp

&nbsp

Go to top K00160 Actions:

BILL NOK00160 

&nbsp

03/04/2025introduced

03/04/2025adopted

Go to topK00160 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topK00160 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topK00160 Text:

Assembly Resolution No. 160

BY: M. of A. Wright

 MOURNING the death of Hazel N. Dukes, longtime
 civil rights stalwart and distinguished member of
 her community

 WHEREAS, There are certain outstanding members of our community who,
through their selfless commitment and dedication, have served to better
the quality of life in our community and have had a measurable positive
impact on the lives of its residents; Hazel N. Dukes was one such
individual; and

 WHEREAS, It is with profound sorrow and deep regret that this
Legislative Body records the passing of Hazel N. Dukes, noting the
significance of her purposeful life and accomplishments; and

 WHEREAS, Hazel N. Dukes, an early and unwavering crusader for civil
rights who survived personal, professional and political setbacks to
serve for nearly a half-century as the perennial president of New York
State's NAACP, died on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at her home in Harlem;
she was 92; and

 WHEREAS, A fixture on the front lines of the civil rights movement -
and eventually an elder stateswoman - Hazel N. Dukes was seen by
associates as courageous, implacable and ardently loyal; she was
president of the national NAACP in the early 1990s and headed the
organization's New York State Conference from 1977 until her death; and

 WHEREAS, Hazel N. Dukes has been a fearless advocate for equal
educational opportunity and has participated in the development of some
of the nation's most important advancements for early childhood
education; she was also the founder and president of Hazel N. Dukes &
Associates, a consulting firm that focused on strategic planning; and

 WHEREAS, In 1990, Hazel N. Dukes was appointed president of the
city's Off-Track Betting Corporation (OTB), a coveted job she held until
1994; furthermore, at the age of 91, she was named by the Mayor of New
York City to his Charter Revision Commission, a temporary panel
appointed to recommend changes in the structure of city government; and

 WHEREAS, Hazel Nell Dukes was born on March 17, 1932, in Montgomery,
Alabama, the only child of Edward and Alice Dukes; her father was a
Pullman porter and union organizer, and her mother was a domestic
worker; one of the family's neighbors was Rosa Parks, who would become
known as the heroine of the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott; and

 WHEREAS, After moving to New York with her family in 1955, Hazel N.
Dukes worked at Macy's and, while she lived in Roslyn, on Long Island,
for the federal Head Start program, as well as the Nassau County
attorney's office, where she was a trailblazer as one of the first Black
hires, and the county's Economic Opportunity Commission; and

 WHEREAS, In 1978, after studying business administration at Nassau
County Community College, Hazel N. Dukes earned a bachelor's degree in
business administration from Adelphi University in Garden City, New

York; she did postgraduate work at Queens College of the City University
of New York and was the proud recipient of several hon