Craft, Juanita.

"I have no natural children. I have adopted the world." These are the words of Juanita Craft. Born in Round Rock, Texas, February 9, 1902, Juanita Jewel Shanks was the granddaughter of slave Amy Black Shanks and the daughter of David and Eliza Shanks. After attending Prairie View College and Samuel Houston College in Austin, Texas, she taught kindergarten and worked as a drugstore clerk in Galveston, Texas from 1922 to 1925. She moved to Dallas in March 1925. From that day forward until her death on August 6, 1985, Dallas was gifted by her strength, tenacity, generosity, and love for mankind.

Public service is often used as a term to describe volunteer work or civic duties performed by those who are financially able to help or to lead. However, there are many public servants who give of themselves even when their own existence is not a wealthy one. This applies to Juanita Craft, a seemingly tireless woman who fought for civil rights and a colorblind society through volunteering her time, knowledge and will. Her achievements through peaceful protest, N.A.A.C.P. membership, youth leadership, Democratic Party activities and Dallas city government helped to shape Dallas.

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