Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum – South Dallas Cultural Center https://sdcc.dallasculture.org Fri, 26 May 2023 19:07:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.12 https://oca-media.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2022/06/cropped-SDCC-LOGO_Updated_Sankofa-32x32.png Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum – South Dallas Cultural Center https://sdcc.dallasculture.org 32 32 Juanita J. Craft: A Celebration of Love & Legacy https://sdcc.dallasculture.org/2023/02/11/juanita-j-craft-a-celebration-of-love-legacy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=juanita-j-craft-a-celebration-of-love-legacy Sat, 11 Feb 2023 18:23:07 +0000 https://sdcc.dallasculture.org/?p=7077 + Read More]]> To celebrate Juanita J. Craft’s 121st birthday, the Friends of Juanita Craft House & Museum invited the community, artist residency recipients, and the Craft Kids to the South Dallas Cultural Center on Feb. 9. Participants gathered for an evening of celebration and love to honor Juanita and the re-development of the Craft House & Museum. The South Dallas Concert Choir, which began in 1986 as a 15-member workshop choir through the South Dallas Cultural Center, performed a few songs for the attendees. Special remarks were made by Friends of Juanita Craft House’s Board Chair Candace Thompson and Craft Kid Patricia Perez.

(Photos: SDCC Staff / Imani Chet Lytle)

The 1300 sq. ft. one-story frame house was the home of Juanita J. Craft, one of Dallas´ most significant civil rights figures and the second African American woman to serve on the Dallas City Council. Programming at the Juanita Craft Civil Rights House is coordinated by the South Dallas Cultural Center of the City of Dallas’ Office of Cultural Affairs.

In 1935, Craft joined the NAACP, and in the years that followed, she started 182 rural NAACP chapters.Craft joined demonstrations against the segregated University of Texas Law School and North Texas State University, each resulting in successful lawsuits in 1950 and 1955. Afterwards, she opened a dropout preparation program in Dallas. Craft also served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Children and Youth, and as a member of the Governor’s Human Relations Committee. In 1975, at the age of 73, she was elected to the Dallas City Council, where she spent two terms working to improve the status of Hispanic and Native Americans.

Click here to learn more about the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum

]]> Craft Kids https://sdcc.dallasculture.org/2022/05/17/craft-kids/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=craft-kids Tue, 17 May 2022 17:32:44 +0000 https://sdcc.dallasculture.org/?p=5297 + Read More]]> Juanita J. Craft helped organize the Dallas Youth Council, which would become the model for youth organizations in NAACP chapters around the country. The young adults who were members of the Dallas Youth Council were called the Craft Kids.

(Pictured in photo from left to right: Rolando Medrano, Bessie Slider Moody, Diane Ragsdale, Pauline Medrano, Bob Lydia, Ricardo Medrano Sr., and Adam Medrano representing his Uncle, Pancho Medrano)

Juanita Craft as the NAACP Youth Council advisor for the Dallas branch, spearheaded a movement to end discrimination at the fair so that any person of any race could participate on any day they chose. Craft and members of the Youth Council decided to stage a boycott of the fair to draw attention to discriminatory practices. Teenagers, equipped with signs proclaiming “TODAY IS NEGRO APPEASEMENT DAY AT THE FAIR,” picketed the parade that began at the local black high school. While the Youth Council did not succeed in ending Negro Achievement Day, they were able to draw attention to the discrimination African Americans faced.

The Youth Council was given an award by the NAACP for their well organized and peaceful demonstration. In later years, adults took over picketing the fair. Achievement Day (fair planners dropped the “Negro” in 1957) officially ended in 1961, followed by the full desegregation of the fair later in the ’60s.

Learn more about the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House & Museum

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