Native Texan Opal Lee is affectionately regarded as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”
On January 31, within a letter addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee, Lee, a 95-year-old Fort Worth luminary, was nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize by United States Congressman Marc Veasey (Texas District 33) and thirty-three co-signing congressional members from across our nation.
Lee has been motivated for more than forty years to encourage the federal commemoration of Juneteenth as a national holiday.
As the Juneteenth Legacy Project explains: “President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery in Texas and other states at war with the Union on January 1, 1863. However, Lincoln’s Proclamation had little impact on Texans at that time due to the small number of Union troops available to enforce the law. Enforcement [of the law] generally relied on the advance of Union troops due to continued rebel resistance. Juneteenth commemorates Union Army General Gordon Granger’s proclamation issued on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, which ordered the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state of Texas.”
The Denton Record-Chronicle (DRC) reported that Lee planned a 2016 1,400-mile march from Fort Worth all the way up to Washington D.C. to promote her belief in the federally-recognized importance of Juneteenth.
“You could save me a lot of shoe leather and a lot of wear and tear on an old body by saying how soon you can see me,” the DRC captured Lee writing to Former President Barack Obama.
And she is still walking.
A mini-documentary of Ms. Opal’s Mission shows Lee enjoying walking over-two-mile stretches to remember the years that it took for slavery to actually end after the 1863 signature of President Lincoln.
When President Joe Biden officially recognized Juneteenth as a federal holiday on June 15, 2021, Lee was present at the White House to witness his signature and the contribution she had made to American history, step by step.