Elsie Faye Heggins served two terms as a Dallas city councilwoman and civil rights activist. Heggins is credited with successfully fighting to have Interstate 45 redesigned to include off-ramps at ground level through southern Dallas to serve the people who lived there.
She also lobbied for single-member districts in city council elections and school board elections. Heggins’ work helped pave the way for minority leaders who followed.
Heggins, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, continued her higher education at North Texas State College, now known as the University of North Texas.
In 2015, Dallas City Council approved renaming a portion of a South Dallas street in front of Nelson Park after Heggins.
