Lifting As We Climb’ honors living female heroes

I raised holy hell when I lived in Nassau County.”

Hazel N. Dukes

Learning about revered heroes of the past is always inspiring, but having living heroes speak from a distance of a few feet is unforgettable.

Last Saturday, at Lifting As We Climb, a fundraiser for Cedarmore Corporation’s yearly Girlz Talk event, unforgettable moments crowded each other in quick succession.

Hazel N. Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference and a distinguished warrior for civil rights for more than half a century, was chatting to Dr. Jacci Harris, the program director of the Cynthia P. Roberts Youth Empowerment Series.

The first-ever Black female member of an NFL coaching staff, Collette V. Smith, bent to brush color onto a wall mural that would later be displayed at Katz Women’s Hospital in Queens. Nassau County Police Chief Lorna Atmore and Joyce A. Smith, Nassau County’s first Black district attorney, went from one elegantly set table to another, laughing and chatting with friends, as did Brianna Vaughan, Hempstead Village’s youngest village justice. 

They would later offer words of inspiration to an audience of young girls and donors who had come to see them receive awards and citations for their groundbreaking work. 

The fundraiser was held in the Palm Court at the Carltun in Eisenhower Park. Chandeliers, tall windows, and polished floors enhanced the celebratory atmosphere. The object of the occasion was to support the Cedarmore Corporation’s yearly event, Girlz Talk, a gathering with culturally relevant workshops and keynote discussions about timely topics. A parallel gathering, Boyz N2 Men, is also held annually.

Young girls of color who attended Lifting As We Climb heard a gamut of accomplished Black women describe how they broke through glass ceilings and reshaped women’s and racial rights. But Bishop Frank Anthone White, pastor of Zion Cathedral in Freeport, spoke first. He lauded the women who had supported the corporation that his father, Bishop Frank O. White, had founded in 1996. 

“Black women keep producing giants,” White said. “I’m here today because I have a great mother who’s still with me, Dr. Juliet White.” His mother, age 80, rose to acknowledge her son’s tribute.

The first honoree, Hazel N. Dukes, wearing an electric blue dress, dominated the room from the moment she opened her mouth at the podium. She first quoted Psalm 34:1, which reads, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Then Dukes announced that she had turned 90 on March 17.

“I had to sue to live in Nassau County,” she told the audience, and described how, after making a down payment on an apartment in Roslyn Gardens over five decades ago, she got a call from the real estate agent, who said the apartment wasn’t available after all. Three white women who promoted civil rights helped her sue successfully to overturn discriminatory housing practices.

“I’ve given 45 years to the fight so you could have the first African-American district attorney in Nassau County,” Dukes said. “I raised holy hell when I lived in Nassau County. I don’t know what’s wrong with y’all now. You take anything from anybody” — a comment that provoked roars of laughter and applause.

One by one, the honorees spoke. Collette V. Smith, who started playing professional women’s football at age 42 and now runs her own business, Believe N You Inc., told the crowd she was a survivor of rape, domestic violence and attempted suicide.

“There is something to be said when you get beat up one too many times,” Smith said. “At some point, you wake up and you start to fight for yourself. And I’m proud knowing that I leveled the playing field.”

Each honoree received a delicate glass slipper and a citation for her accomplishments.

In a later interview, Harris said that the goal of the event had been achieved: “to expose our young people and our next generation of leaders to people who were doing phenomenal work before and are doing it now,” she said.

The fundraiser also elevated public awareness of Cedarmore Corporation’s eight established programs, which range from after-school enrichment, to the Cynthia Perkins Roberts Youth Empowerment Series, to the Bishop Frank O. White Digital Literacy Center.

“The mission is literally to improve the educational, social and emotional development of our youth,” White said after the event. “At the onset of the pandemic, it forced our in-person programs to move into a digital realm in which we were able to exponentially increase the growth and the impact of these programs, literally across our nation.” 

The yearly Girlz Talk series had been held in person at Hofstra University, and 400 to 500 girls would attend. Since the pandemic put meetings on a digital basis, White said, “Now we went from 400 or 500 in person to almost 3,000 girls in the digital realm, being able to impart information and inspiration into their lives.”

Lifting As We Climb was made particularly triumphant by the confirmation of African-American judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, presented to the nation by America’s first female Black vice president, Kamala Harris.

“We choose to focus and to accentuate the positive about what can happen when anyone is determined and focused on making a positive contribution to the culture,” said White. He marveled at Dukes, whose first-place spot on the roster was an accommodation of her trip that afternoon to join the Black Caucus in Albany.

“So she just got in her automobile and went to participate in the Black Caucus,” White said. “Just amazing strength at 90 years of age — just incredible.”

A giant indeed.