Grayson County TXGenWeb
 
Crawford Bernard Bunkley Jr
1921 - 1974
Crawford Bernard Bunkley, Jr. was born in Denison, Texas on July 21, 1921, the son of Crawford Bernard Bunkley, Sr. and Ruth Smith.  He graduated from the Denison Public School system in 1937.

In 1941 C.B., Jr. graduated from Prairie View A&M College with a degree in B.A. in political science, just a few months shy of his 20th birthday.  Returning to his parents' home in Denison, he advertised in The Dallas Morning News for transportation to Michigan where he would enroll at the University of Michigan's Law School.


The University of Texas Law School was not open to African Americans at that time, so he received his legal education at Michigan and later teamed up with Thurgood Marshall to desegregate the University of Texas Law School in 1950.

He settled in Dallas, Texas in 1944 where he worked at the law office of William J. Durham.  Bunkley was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as legal council in many of their civil rights suits.  
  • Swealt vs. Painter (1950) - represented Herman M. Swealt in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case
  • Borders vs. Rippy (1955) - involved in first Dallas school desegregation case to admit blacks into the public schools
  • State of Texas vs. A. Maceo Smith & U. Simpson Tate (1956) - served as legal counsel
  • Perry Fields murder case - served as legal counsel
  • Lawrence Addley rape case - served as legal counsel
Crawford Bunkley, Thurgood Marshall and William J. Durham represented Herman H. Sweatt  in the US Supreme Court case of Sweatt v. Painter (1950).  C.B., Jr. also was instrumental in desegregating Dallas public schools in 1955.

Bunkley was a member of the State Bar Association; the Dallas-Fort Worth Black Lawyers Association and the court-appointed Tri-Ethnic Committee.  He served as president of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce in 1952.

Crawford Beranrd Bunkley's accomplisments include:
  • Member of the State Bar Association
  • Member of the Dallas-Ft.Worth Black Lawyers Association
  • Member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity
  • Member of the court-appointed Tri-Ethnic Committee
  • A founder of the J. L. Turner Legal Society of Dallas
  • Served as president of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce 1952
  • Member of the board of directors of the South Dallas YMCA
  • District chairman of Circle Ten Council. Boy Scouts of America
  • Branch manager of the South Dallas Hexter-Fair Title company
  • On board of directors of Guaranty Bank
  • Grand attorney for the Texas chapter of the Knights of Pythias

Mr. Bunkley ran unsuccessfully for the Dallas City Council in 1959 and 1965.

C.B. Jr's uncle and aunt, Willie and Lonnie Bunkley celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1976.  Lonnie was the younger brother of C.B. Bunkely, Sr. and operated the well known Hollywood Gardens Restaurant in Denison for 46 years.  C.B., Jr's youngest sibling died in 2016 in Maryland and was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Denison.

Crawford Bernard Bunkley, III, son of C.B., Jr. graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas in 1971, a prestigious Dallas prep school.

He was a member of the New Hope Baptist Church.  Bunkley died June 6, 1974 and is buried in Laurel Land Memorial Park Cemetery south of Dallas, Texas.


Handbook of Texas Online

Legacies Profile, 2003


Biography Index

African American Research
Susan Hawkins
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