Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) hosted the Inaugural Dr. Hazel N. Dukes Lecture Series in Leadership and Social Justice on March 10 in Theatre 2 at 199 Chambers Street. The event’s keynote speaker was Jennifer Jones-Austin, CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA).
During his welcoming remarks, BMCC President Dr. Anthony E. Munroe paid tribute to Dr. Dukes, a legendary champion for social justice and equality.
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“We gather today during Women’s Herstory Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the indomitable spirit and contributions of women for our community,” said Dr. Munroe. “While her voice may be silenced, her mission remains our mandate. Today we launch this series to ensure her advocacy for the marginalized continues to echo through these halls and beyond.”
The purpose of the series, as explained by Dr. Munroe, is to bridge the gap between “academic inquiry and transformative social action,” teaching students at BMCC the importance of leadership and empowerment in the community.
“Dr. Dukes was fierce, she was fearless, and she was focused,” said Professor James Blake, long-time counselor and faculty member in the Department of Student Life, and founder of the BMCC Honors Society of Black Student Scholars. “We are so honored and so happy that our president is keeping her legacy alive through this lecture series.”
New York City’s Eighth National Youth Poet Laureate of 2024–2025, Stephanie Pacheco, a BMCC Writing and Literature alumna, performed her recently written poem paying tribute to the Black women and young girls in her life.
“Girls that nod but don’t bow, bite hard on hands that try to cover their mouths,” said Pacheco, performing her piece. “If the pigeons can fly, then I can too. I say we’re black, we’re brown, and poor, and trans, and queer – we’re eternal. We build, so we burn. It is cultural practice to refuse to die.”
As CEO of FPWA, keynote speaker Jones-Austin oversees an anti-poverty, policy, and advocacy organization founded in the 1920s. From then to now, the group has ensured that there would be programs for homeless children without guardianship and remained vocal throughout the communities they represented and stood by.
FPWA currently has 170 member agencies and faith partners. CEO Jones-Austin has led and secured monumental changes in social policy to strengthen and empower the disenfranchised and marginalized. Ms. Jones-Austin brings to her work a profound understanding of the link between race, poverty, law, and social policy in America, and the role religion plays.
“I want to thank you for bestowing upon me an inestimable honor, to be able to serve as the inaugural speaker for the first Hazel N. Dukes Lecture Series on Leadership and Social Justice,” said Ms. Jones-Austin.
“Education of the community was at the heart, the core of everything Hazel N. Dukes stood for, what she fought for,” said Jones-Austin. “She understood that education was not only essential but transformational, especially in the lives of children and adults challenged by structural and systemic racism, and complementing economic inequality.”
“In perilous times, it is my burden, my responsibility; our burden, our responsibility, to be better ancestors than descendants,” said Ms. Jones-Austin.
