At the corner of 145th West Street and Riverside Drive in West Harlem now stands the Judge Hubert T. Delany Way. Co-named after the Harlem civil rights pioneer attorney, politician, assistant US attorney, the first Black tax commissioner of New York, and one of the first appointed NY City Black judges.
The bill was sponsored by New York City 7th Councilmanic District Member, Shaun Abreu, and strongly supported by the former and now retired Harlem Congressman Charles B. Rangle, who knew Judge Hubert Delany. The former US Congressman noted that the one-time civil right attorney was a true representative who served the community of Harlem and the country well. “I can think of no one more-deserving of a ceremonial street-naming than Judge T. Delany,” the former Congressman noted.
Councilmember Abreu is marking the historic event stated that he was filled with pride that Judge Hubert Delany’s name will shine, “because his work must continue. His fight for civil rights, for housing justice, and for the basic respect and dignity for all people must continue…and to also remember our responsibility to carry on the commitments of the courageous… Judge Delany showed us that history is not a static thing,” Abreu added.
Judge Delany had an extensive career serving as both a justice in New York City Domestic Relations Court as well as attorney and adviser to civil rights activists, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., US Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and poet Langston Huges. Judge Delany also advised clients in the entertainment and sports industries including famed opera singer Marian Anderson, singer and actor Paul Roberson, cartoonist E. Simms Campbell, bandleader Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker, and Jackie Robinson.
Judge Delany loved Harlem and fought ceaselessly against segregation, discrimination, jim-crow-ism, injustice, and the oppression of human beings wherever it was. The pioneer civil right attorney was a trailblazer for the Harlem village.
Hurbert Thomas Delany lived from May 11, 1901 – Dec. 28, 1990, to practice law was his profession, but the judge’s modus operandi was to serve humanity diligently. He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving as vice president for the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the NAACP also, served as the director for the Harlem YMCA and became an active leader during the period of the Harlem Renaissance.
