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
]]>(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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This class was part of SDCC’s New Years, New Skills creative workshop series.
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Craft was the first African American woman to vote in Dallas County in a public election and used millinery to support her activism. Instructor Cassie MacGregor from The House of MacGregor walked through the construction of feather flowers on a vine using glue, wire, and wooden beads. The workshop concluded with nice music, floral tea with sweet biscuits, and a fun photo op.
This class was part of SDCC’s New Years, New Skills creative workshop series.
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The site tells an important piece of our city’s history. For over half-a-century, Mrs. Craft dedicated herself to improving the welfare of others and to courageously defending the rights of the disenfranchised. And, when laws proved to be discriminatory, Mrs. Craft did the hard work of changing both minds and hearts; and we are indebted to the leadership of Juanita Craft as the many sacrifices she made over the course of her lifetime.
To celebrate Juanita Jewel Craft and her 120th birthday, here’s a special video made by community contributors, local residents, and city council members to honor her life and legacy!
Learn more about the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House & Museum
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North Texas Cluster of The Links, Incorporated donated $10,200 to help renovate and support the Juanita J. Craft House.
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of more than 16,000 professional women of African descent in 292 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.
North Texas Cluster of The Links, Incorporated. Dallas (TX) Chapter, Fort Worth (TX) Chapter, Mid-Cities (TX) Chapter, Plano North-Metroplex (TX) Chapter, Trinity (TX) Chapter, and Greater Denton County (TX) Chapter.
Read more about the Juanita J. Craft House from our Black Culture Celebrated blog.
]]>Instructions are simple – record a short video wishing Craft a happy birthday! Here are a few more tips to make sure your video makes the cut:
- Recordings no longer than 5 – 10 seconds.
- Shoot your video horizontally.
- Speak clearly and make sure your in a quiet, well lit space.
- Use fun birthday props; i.e. hats, party favors, confetti, cake, etc. No alcohol.
- No music for copyright reasons.
- Different languages are encouraged!
Deadline to submit is Jan. 28! Send your completed video to sdcc.proposals@gmail.com with “Happy Birthday Juanita” in the subject line.
The Beauty of South Dallas was a pilot project created by multimedia artist Nitashia Johnson during the inaugural Juanita J. Craft Artist Residency. The project documents the neighborhood of South Dallas and several of its residence, business owners, and community leaders. South Dallas is a community rich with culture and history, but it is quickly changing. The goal of this project was to preserve a period in time that tells us where the neighborhood is before it changes. Over a three month period, September to December 2020, Nitashia has endeavored to connect with the people of the community and use her talents as a multimedia artist/designer to capture the landscape and present it in this website The Beauty of South Dallas.
Art&Seek shares a recent article about multimedia artist, Nitashia Johnson, and how she’s honoring the South Dallas Community through her camera lens.
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Juanita J. Craft, one of Dallas´ most significant civil rights figures and the second African American woman to serve on the Dallas City Council, lived in her home for 50 years. Discussions of the future of the civil rights movement were held here with many other great leaders like Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since 1994, Craft’s home has been operating as a historical museum, but Dallas’ Office of Arts and Culture department intends on restoring the house by the summer of 2022 with money raised from private fundraising and a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service.
“If we don’t tell these stories and preserve these places now, they will be lost. And it only gets harder as you get further away from the history,” says Director of Arts and Culture, Jennifer Scripps.
Read the full article by the Dallas Morning News.
Help preserve the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House for North Texas Giving Day
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