Craft, Juanita Jewel, 1902-

Civil rights activist.

Juanita Craft (1902-.) is known for her lifelong work in support of education, civil rights, and the NAACP. Born Juanita Jewel Shanks in Round Rock, Texas, on February 9, 1902, she grew up in Austin. She attended Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, a Black school, where she earned a certificate in dressmaking and millinery in 1921. She arrived in Dallas in 1925 and worked as a bellmaid at the Adolphus Hotel. In 1935 she joined the NAACP and became increasingly involved in its civil rights activities. On October 2, 1937, she married Johnny Edward Craft, a union that lasted until has death on January 17, 1950. They had no children. During World War II, Craft was appointed Dallas NAACP membership chairman and, in 1946, became Texas field organizer and Dallas Youth Advisor. In addition, Juanita Craft served in the Dallas Democratic party for twenty-three years as precinct chairman beginning in 1952. She was the first Black woman deputized to sell poll tax certificates in Texas. She supported herself by means of a millinery shop in her home while working with Dallas young people. Through nonviolent demonstration, the Youth Council helped to successfully challenge segregation in restaurants, lunch counters, and theaters, at North Texas State University, and at the Texas State Fair in 1955. Other programs included the "Back to School" drive in the early 1960s, the Kids Kan Kampaign neighborhood cleanup in 1965, and annual NAACP convention trips since 1960 in which she accompanied a dozen teenagers. Craft received Dallas' highest civic honor, the Linz award, in 1967 for investigating, exposing, and legislating against fraudulent trade schools which had lured and cheated many unsuspecting young people in Texas. In 1975 at the age of seventy-two, Juanita Craft won a seat on the Dallas City Council for the District 6 post and was re-elected in 1977. Many civic and political honors have been bestowed upon her and three times she was summoned to the White House to receive recognition awards. The Juanita Jewel Craft Recreation Center and Park, constructed and christened in 1974 in the heart of Dallas, stands as a living testament to her lifelong work in aid of Dallas youth and residents. Instead of wishing to be known as a fighter for Black rights, Juanita Craft insists that her concern has always been with defending every American's civil rights.

Activist in the fields of civil rights and education on behalf of Dallas area youth and residents; Dallas NAACP membership chairman, Texas field organizer, and Dallas Youth Advisor in the 1940s; Dallas Democratic Party precinct chairman (1952-1975); Dallas City Councilman (1975-1979).

Milliner by trade.