A&M-Commerce Distinguished Alum Receives 2018 Juanita Craft Humanitarian Award

Robert Edison, a 1971 graduate of East Texas State University, was honored with the Visionary Award by the Steering Committee of the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum in Dallas on October 11.

The Visionary Award recognizes an individual whose contributions are currently creating a positive effect on civil rights and community transformation in Dallas and has committed their personal time, resources and passion to take on a challenge that addresses equity and fairness.

In announcing the award, Cannon Flowers, chair of the committee, stated that Edison is “known for being in front of classrooms as a master teacher” and has earned “the appreciation of generations.”  Edison has been an “educational visionary who is especially committed to mentoring young people to achieve community transformation,” Flowers continued.

Edison received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 1971 and returned to Commerce in 1996 to work on a second master's degree in history on a James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellowship.

In addition to the Visionary Award, Edison earned the YMCA Oak Cliff/Moorland Delegation Youth and Government New Horizons Award in 2015, the Alpha Epsilon Boule Education Foundation Educator of the Year award in 2013 and the 2011 Clifton Caldwell Texas History Day Service Award from the Texas State Historical Association.

An active community member, Edison serves as a docent for the Dallas African American Museum of History and Culture, board member of the Kathlyn Gilliam Civil Rights House and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.