Juanita Craft (born Juanita Jewel Shanks; February 9, 1902 – August 6, 1985) was an American activist and politician. Craft was an activist in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

and also served as a member of the

Dallas City Council The Dallas City Council serves as the legislative body in the City of Dallas. It consists of 14 members. City council members are chosen by Plurality voting, plurality elections in each of fourteen districts. The city operates under a Council-Mana ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Biography

Born in

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of the 2020 census. The city straddles the Bal ...

, Craft was the only child of schoolteachers David Sylvestus (d. 1947) and Eliza Balfour Shanks (d. 1918). Craft was raised by her mother until she died in 1918. After her mother's death, Craft moved to Columbus, Texas to be with her father. After graduating high school in 1919, Craft attended

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

where she studied

sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabr ...

and

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

. After two years at Prairie View, Craft moved back to Austin, Texas and received her teaching certificate from

Samuel Huston College Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

. By 1925, Craft was working as a maid at the

Adolphus Hotel Hotel Adolphus (often referred to as "The Adolphus") is an upscale hotel in the Main Street District of Downtown Dallas Dallas, Texas. A Dallas Landmark, it was for several years the tallest building in the state. Today, the hotel is part of Mar ...

and later as a seamstress. Craft joined the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

in 1935, eventually becoming the Dallas NAACP membership chairman in 1942 and the Texas NAACP field organizer in 1946. She helped to organize 182 branches of the NAACP over eleven years. In 1944, Craft became the first black woman in

Dallas County Dallas County may refer to: Places in the USA: * Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name * Dallas County, Arkansas * Dallas County, Iowa * Dallas County, Missouri * Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...

to vote in a public election. In 1955, she organized a protest of the

State Fair of Texas The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

against its policy of admitting blacks only on "Negro Achievement Day." Craft also assisted in the organization of protests and pickets in segregated lunch counters, restaurants, theaters and public transportation. Following the 1954 decision in

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

, Craft worked to integrate the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Law School and the Dallas Independent School District. She attempted to help enroll the first black student at North Texas State College (Now the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

), a battle eventually won through litigation She later served two terms on the Dallas City Council from 1975 and 1979. Craft became a towering historic figure in the Civil Rights Movement in Texas, and was given many awards for her efforts, including the NAACP Golden Heritage Life Membership Award in 1978, the

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

Humanitarian Award in 1984, and she was recognized by the NAACP for her fifty years of service shortly before her death at the age of 83 on August 6, 1985.

Legacy

The Juanita Jewel Craft Recreation Center and a Dallas city park were named in her honor as was a

U.S. Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...

in southeast Dallas. Craft home on Warren Avenue in South Dallas is now the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and is part of Dallas's Wheatley Place Historic District. Climbing the wooden steps of its front porch were many historic figures seeking audience with Juanita Craft, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Personal and awards

Craft was married twice, first to a childhood friend Charles Floyd Langham from 1921 to 1925. Craft's second marriage was to salesman and gambler Johnnie Edward Craft from 1937 until his death in 1950.

References

External links

Juanita Craft Collection at the Dallas Public Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Juanita 1902 births 1985 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights People from Austin, Texas Politicians from Dallas African-American people in Texas politics African-American women in politics Activists from Texas 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people Women civil rights activists