“I found that this promise of freedom is only as strong as those who chose to uphold it. The question is, will you rise to the occasion, or will you stand still as history passes you by?”

Opal Lee

Opal Lee (née Flake) was born on October 7, 1926 in Marshall, Texas and learned about Juneteenth from the annual neighborhood celebrations growing up. Lee’s parents, Mattie Broadous and Otis Flake, relocated their three children to Fort Worth, Texas when she was nine years old. There, she recalls, Juneteenth was a more private celebration among families. 

During one of those celebrations in 1939, 82 years before June 19th became a federal holiday, a white mob of 500 people surrounded the Flake home and burned it to the ground. The family escaped with traumatic scars of the event, leaving Lee with a deep attachment to that date. Three years later, Mattie Broadous and Otis Flake divorced, leaving Broadous as the sole caretaker and breadwinner for her three children. Lee credits her mother’s hard-working spirit as the inspiration for her own inner strength and compassion for others.  

Lee graduated high school at 16, attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and a Minor in English. Lee would return to university in 1960 to earn her Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling and Guidance. 

Lee taught within the Fort Worth Independent School District for fifteen years, working first as a third-grade teacher at Amanda McCoy Elementary School and, later, as a visiting teacher and social worker. She implemented solutions for truant students who were missing school due to a lack of resources, from housing and medical aid to food and clothing. Lee also joined the board for the Community Food Bank, playing a crucial role in keeping the food bank alive through her leadership and providing food to her student’s families. Upon Lee’s retirement in 1977, her activism expanded beyond the local level. 

That same year, Lee became a charter member of the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society and immediately undertook planning for the Juneteenth celebrations. When the Society deemed the celebrations unprofitable and ended their role as an organizer, Lee shifted her focus to the Fort Worth celebrations. She continued to be at the heart of the organization and celebration of Juneteenth for the next 40 years. 

In 2016, when she was 89 years old, Lee brought national attention to Juneteenth by organizing a 1,400 mile walk from her home in Texas to Washington D.C. When her family raised concerns about her health, Lee acquiesced. However, she did walk 300 miles, and did so symbolically in 2.5-mile increments, commemorating the two and a half years it took for the news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach enslaved individuals of Galveston, Texas. Lee also collected 1.6 million signatures for her petition to commemorate the end of slavery with a federal holiday. 

Figure 1. Opal Lee and President Joe Biden at the White House for the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act Bill signing.  P20210617CW-2703 (51361783473).jpg. June 17, 2021. Photograph, Wikimedia Commons.

_{commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P20210617CW-2703_(51361783473).jpg}

“Grandmother of Juneteenth” 

On June 17, 2021, 154 years after Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, in inform enslaved people of their delayed freedom, Lee witnessed President Joe Biden sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, officially establishing June 19 as a national holiday. During the ceremony, President Biden recognized the historical significance of Lee’s activism and her instrumental role in raising awareness. Specifically, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated Lee for her symbolic walks in advocacy for Juneteenth. At President Biden’s request, Lee received a standing ovation for her role as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” The following year, 34 members of Congress nominated Lee to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Three years later, Lee returned to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for these efforts. In total, Lee dedicated five decades of her life to ensure everyone would know about the freedom withheld and the freedom celebrated by formerly enslaved communities and their descendants. 

Figure 2. Opal Lee receives standing ovation at the White House on June 17, 2021. P20210608CW-0929 (51268389376).jpg. June 17, 2021. Photograph, Wikimedia Commons.

_{commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P20210608CW-0929_(51268389376).jpg}