Opal Lee (Grandmother of Juneteenth)

FORTitude had the honor of hosting the great Opal Lee today! She talks to Brinton and JW about growing up in Fort Worth, becoming a teacher and advocate for the community, and ultimately becoming the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” Opal Lee is an American retired teacher, counselor, and activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday. Lee campaigned for decades to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. She has promoted the idea by leading 2.5 miles (4.0 km) walks each year, representing the 2.5 years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. At the age of 89, she conducted a symbolic walk from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., leaving in September 2016 and arriving in Washington in January 2017. On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed Senate Bill S. 475 making Juneteenth the eleventh federal holiday. Lee was born in Marshall, Texas on October 7, 1926. She was the oldest of three children of Mattie (Broadous) and Otis Flake. When she was 10 years old, she and her family moved to Fort Worth, Texas. The Flakes later moved to the 7th Ward of Fort Worth, Texas (also known as Terrell Heights). In June 1939, her parents bought a house in the 900 block of East Annie Street, then a mostly white area. On June 19, 1939, 500 white rioters vandalized and burned down her home. Lee was twelve years old at the time. Recalling it years later, she said, "The fact that it happened on the 19th day of June has spurred me to make people understand that Juneteenth is not just a festival."