The flooding that damaged the historic home of civil rights icon Juanita Craft in South Dallas three years ago was a catastrophe that disheartened community members and preservationists.
But that burst pipe may turn out to be the twist in the story that ensures Craft’s legacy endures in Dallas’ collective memory.
The devastation in Craft’s 1920s Craftsman bungalow on Warren Avenue — the collapsed ceiling, the buckled hardwood floors, the waterlogged papers — shook the City Council and civic leaders. This wasn’t just any historic home, after all. It was a bed-and-breakfast for Black musicians during Jim Crow, a hub for civil rights leaders fighting for the desegregation of the State Fair and other Dallas institutions, and a cradle for more than 180 NAACP chapters and youth councils.
Craft, the first Black woman to vote in Dallas County and the second Black woman to serve on the Dallas City Council, died in 1985 and bequeathed her home to the city for preservation. Dallas opened it as a museum in 1994, but it operated sporadically, largely forgotten but for the occasional group tour. It was far from the tribute that Craft and her hard-earned victories deserved.
That’s changing, thanks to heavy lifting from the city’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Junior League of Dallas, the latter of which has made the restoration of the Craft home its centennial project. On Wednesday, the City Council accepted the latest donation to pour into city coffers for the project: a package of $250,000 in donations from several philanthropic groups raised by the Junior League of Dallas in partnership with the city.
Jennifer Scripps, the city’s director of arts and culture, told us that more than $1 million has been raised for the restoration of the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House, though the city still hasn’t met its goal. We commend the Junior League of Dallas for doing the bulk of the private fundraising. Another major contribution arrived in 2019 from the National Park Service, which awarded the city a $500,000 grant for the preservation of civil rights history.
Despite the upheaval of the pandemic, the house is scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2022. The money raised will cover the cost of construction — more laborious and expensive than your typical building due to historic preservation standards — and new exhibits and programming.
“We don’t want it to be a sleepy house museum,” Scripps told us. “We want it to engage and excite people, so that they are inspired by Ms. Craft.”
Several City Council members praised the project this week, noting Craft’s place among the firmament of Dallas leaders who have shaped this city for the better.
“Juanita Craft was a legend not only to the African-American community in Dallas, but the entire city of Dallas,” said council member Casey Thomas.
We hope the redevelopment of Fair Park will add momentum to the city’s efforts to draw attention to the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and that the museum’s lessons will also make their way into school curricula in our city.
“If we don’t tell these stories and preserve these places now, they will be lost,” Scripps said. “And it only gets harder as you get further away from the history.”
