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Today’s Black History WOW!
Opal Lee, known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth, has dedicated her life to advocating for the recognition and celebration of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the completion of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce the end of slavery, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed.
Opal Lee was born in Marshall, Texas in 1926 and grew up in a segregated society where racial inequality was rampant. When she was 12 years old, her family bought a home in a mostly white neighborhood in Fort Worth, Texas. Soon after, on June 19, 1936, 500 white supremacists burned down the family’s home. This incident and others fueled her passion for activism and social change.
Ms. Lee graduated from high school at age 16, and then later graduated from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas with a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She also received a Master’s degree in counseling and Guidance from what is now the University of North Texas.
After retiring from her education career in 1977, Ms. Lee became more active with community causes and groups in Tarrant County, Texas, and founded her nonprofit organization, Unity Unlimited, Inc., which was officially incorporated in 2000.
Opal Lee campaigned for decades to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She led symbolic walks and marches in Texas, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.
Finally, in June 2021, when she was 94 years old, Ms. Lee's efforts succeeded. Congress passed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday and the bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden. She was an honored guest at the bill signing ceremony, receiving the first of many pens Biden used to sign the document. As she sat in the front row, she received a standing ovation and Biden got down on one knee to greet her.
Ms. Lee was named the 2021 "Texan of the Year" by The Dallas Morning News for her activism on behalf of Black Texans. She was also included in the 2021 book Unsung Heroes for operating a food bank, farm, and community garden throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, Opal Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.
Her legacy as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” will forever be remembered as a testament to the power of one person's dedication to a cause greater than themselves.
Today In Black History
In 1862, slavery was abolished in the U.S. territories.
In 1894, the English prime minister declared Uganda as a British protectorate.
In 1899, Black inventor W.H. Richardson patented the baby buggy.
In 1949, the Supreme Court ruled that Ada Louis Sipuel Fisher could enroll as the first Black student at the University of Oklahoma Law School.
In 1953, Egypt became a republic after the forced abdication of King Farouk I.
In 1963, 3,000 Black students boycotted the Boston Public Schools to protest de facto segregation.
In 1966, Samuel Nabrit was chosen as the first African American to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1968, the Supreme Court banned racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing.
In 1982, the U.S. Senate extended the 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965 by an 85-8 vote.
In 1991, Wellington Webb was elected the 1st Black mayor of Denver, Colorado.
In 1999, the U.S. Navy commissioned its first Black Officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.
In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Obama-era Dreamers Program (DACA) which enabled undocumented migrant children the ability to study and work, can stay.
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