1932-2025
ERASE Racism Lifetime Achievement Awardee, 2024
Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, a civil rights activist, dedicated more than seven decades advocating to achieve racial diversity, equity and inclusion to bring long-lasting social change. Dr. Dukes was a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors and President of the NAACP New York State Conference. She was a woman of great strength and courage with an unwavering commitment to civil rights and public service. Her dedication to human rights and equality was exemplified by her role linking business, government and social causes. Dr. Dukes was an active and dynamic leader who was known for her unselfish and devoted track record for improving the quality of life in New York State.
Dr. Dukes was a successful entrepreneur, President and founder of Hazel N. Dukes & Associates Consultant Firm. The firm has extensive expertise in strategic planning as it pertains to education, economic development, civic engagement and youth development.
Dr. Dukes was the recipient of numerous honors and awards for her many years of commitment to justice and activism. She received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, YWCA City of New York John La Farge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice, The Network Journal’s 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business Award, First Annual Ruth Clark Trailblazer Award, National Action Network Legacy Award, City & State Fifty Over 50 Lifetime Achievement Award, John E. Zuccotti Public Service Award by the Real Estate Board of New York, first recipient of the Metro-Manhattan Chapter of The Links, Inc. Hazel N. Dukes Social Justice Champion Award and was a Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce 2023 125th Anniversary Gala honoree.
In 2020 Dr. Dukes was presented the key to New York City by former Mayor Bill de Blasio for years of dedicated public service to New York City; the New York City Council has awarded Discretionary Funding to the NAACP New York State Conference technology program that was renamed the “Hazel N. Dukes Education Initiative” in honor of her commitment to improve educational opportunities for underserved communities. Her biography has been selected for publication in many journals and directories: Fisk University Library, Minority Women Contribution, American Biographical Institute Personalities of Northeast, Who’s Who Among American Women, Who’s Who Among Black Women and in 2022 was inducted into the prestigious Who’s Who in America Biographical Registry. In January 2023 Dr. Dukes made history by becoming the first layperson in the United States of America to administer the oath of office to a governor.
Dr. Dukes received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Adelphi University, Garden City, New York and completed post-graduate work at Queens College. In 1990 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the City University of New York Law School at Queens College and in 2009 was conferred the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, New York. In 2012 she was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Harlem, New York.