Opal Lee
Opal Lee
"Grandmother of Juneteenth"
Opal lee is an amazing woman who has dedicated her life to making Juneteenth a national holiday.
She was born in 1926, and experienced racism and violence at a young age. She became a teacher, counselor and activist in Fort Worth.
At 89 she started walking from Fort Worth to Washington DC, 2.5 miles everyday which symbolized the 2.5 years it took for enslaved African Americans in Texas to learn that they were free.
" I have to tell you that none of us are free until we are all free"
-Opal Lee-
Erika Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Erika Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
June 17, 2021
President Biden signed a bill making
Juneteenth a Federal National Holiday
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons