"Juanita Craft(Born Junita Jewel Shanks February 9,1902-August 6,1985)

Was an American civil rights pioneer and a member of the Dallas City Council in Texas.Born in Rock Round Texas,Junita came to Dallas from Austin being employed as a maid at the Adolphus Hotel and later a seamstress.She joined the NAACP in 1935,eventually becoming the Dallas NAACP membership chairman,in 1942 and Texas NAACP field organizer in 1946.She helped to organize 182 branches of the NAACP over eleven years.In 1944,after becoming the first African-American woman in Dallas to vote in a public election,she attempted to help enroll the first African-American student at North Texas State College(Now the University of North Texas),a battle eventually won through litigation.In 1955,she organized a protest of the State Fair of Texas against the policy of admitting African-Americans only on "Negro Achievement Day."She also assisted in the organization of protestsand pickets in segregated lunch lunch counters,restaurants,theaters,and public transportation.Following the 1954 decision in Brown v.Board of Education,Junita worked to integrate the University of Texas Law School and the Dallas Independent School District.She later served two terms on the Dallas City Councilfrom 1975 and 1979.Juanita became a towering historic figure in the Civil Rights Movement in Texas and was given many rewards for her efforts,including the NAACP Golden Hertiage Life Membership Award in 1978,the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award in 1984,and she was recognized by the NAACP for fifty years of service shortly before her death.The Juanita Jewel Craft Recreation Center and a Dallas city park were named in her honor as was a post officein southeast Dallas.Her 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.