Photography by Owen Jones.
The Junior League of Dallas joined with the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, the Friends of Juanita Craft Civil Rights House and others to celebrate Juanita Craft on what would have been her 120th birthday.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson declared Feb. 9, Craft’s birthday, Juanita Craft Day.
“We are proud and privileged to honor the life and legacy of Juanita J. Craft, a civil rights icon who dedicated 60 years of her life to make Dallas a better, more just and more equitable city,” Johnson said.
In 2020, the JLD announced its centennial project would be to help rehabilitate the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House. The City had been working on turning the house into a museum since 2018, but progress stopped when a sprinkler pipe burst in the attic and flooded the building.
The league and its partners have raised almost $1.4 million to fund renovations, which are expected to be completed later this year. The league is also working with the City to designate the home as a historical landmark on the Civil Rights Trail. It would be the first such landmark in Texas.
Craft’s home was a popular meeting place for civil rights activists and leaders including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., former President Jimmy Carter, Duke Ellington, Thurgood Marshall and Eleanor Roosevelt.
