Benefit to empower future female leaders honors activists

Civil rights activists who broke housing and voting barriers in Nassau County were honored at a fundraising event Saturday afternoon along with influential African American women making history in high-ranking roles.

Hazel N. Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, and a trailblazer who fought housing discrimination in Roslyn Heights, was among the six women recognized for their achievements, at a “Lifting as We Climb” benefit in East Meadow to empower future female leaders. Other women lauded included Joyce Smith, Nassau County’s first Black district attorney last year; Lorna Atmore, the first Black woman to serve as chief of support for the Nassau County Police Department; Hempstead Village Justice Brianna Vaughan, who, up until recently, was the youngest judge in the state; and Collette Smith, who as a coaching intern with the New York Jets in 2017 became the first African American woman to coach in the NFL.

Hempstead Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby was also acknowledged for fighting for voting rights. Goosby was first elected in 1999 after a landmark lawsuit against the Town of Hempstead created council districts and allowed for greater representations in minority communities. Goosby was unable to attend but Shelley Brazley, her legislative aide, went in her place.

Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, Dukes told Newsday she was a resident of Nassau County for 32 years up until roughly 1990.  She worked at the Nassau County Economic Opportunity Commission helping to provide educational opportunities for women,  and also helped build housing in Freeport and Roosevelt.

Still fresh with pride after Ketanji Brown Jackson’s U.S. Senate confirmation as the first Black female Supreme Court justice Thursday, Dukes said: “I cried all day. … The NAACP has been in this fight for 113 years; now I am able to see progress that makes America what she said she will be, to all people."

She also commended the benefit for supporting young girls academically and emotionally. “I’m overjoyed. The way they’re guiding them to be the best they can be is excellent.”

When Dukes took the stage to receive a sleek stiletto shoe-shaped award, she reminded the 150 women gathered, “How you serve is not about you, it’s not about your degree or what college you graduated from, it’s about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“If I can help someone as I pass along this way, then my living will not be in vain,” she added.

Proceeds will go toward the Cynthia P. Roberts Youth Empowerment Series Girlz Talk program, organizers said. 

“As we saw yesterday with our newly confirmed Supreme Court justice, when you see it, it’s no longer just a dream. It’s the reality of what it could be for you. And having women of this stature be able to be here and be role models sends a powerful message of what’s possible with hard work, effort and perseverance,” said Jacci Harris, program director at the Freeport-based nonprofit Cedarmore Corp., which hosted the event.

By Lorena Mongelli

lorena.mongelli@newsday.com

Lorena Mongelli has been reporting for Newsday since 2021. Prior to that, she covered breaking news at the New York Post.