10/07/2026
GRANDMOTHER OF JUNETEENTH TURNS 100 TODAY IN FORT WORTH
Happy 100th birthday, Dr. Opal Lee! Today, celebrated by helping kick off construction of the upcoming in Fort Worth. We can’t think of a more fitting way to spend the big day.
WHAT IS JUNETEENTH?
On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and announced that all enslaved people in Texas were free. This happened more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect because the news of freedom had never reached Texas. Texans have celebrated June 19th ever since, and this date is now celebrated nationwide as the day commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S.
GRANDMOTHER OF JUNETEENTH
More than 70 years after General Granger’s announcement, Dr. Lee’s family moved into a white neighborhood in Fort Worth. Days later, on Juneteenth in 1939, a white mob of hundreds attacked their home, smashing windows and furniture, according to newspaper reports from the time. She was just 12 years old.
She grew up to become a teacher, counselor, and activist, and has held Opal’s Walk for Freedom since 2016 in an effort to get the whole country to celebrate Juneteenth!
FORT WORTH AND JUNETEENTH
Fort Worth holds a special place in Juneteenth history, largely thanks to our own Dr. Lee, who successfully campaigned to make it a national holiday. In 2021, she stood next to then-President Joe Biden as Juneteenth became a federal holiday. Today, she’s a founding board member of the National Juneteenth Museum that she has worked so hard to see built.
CLEARING THE WAY
This morning, Dr. Lee joined supporters in the Historic Southside for the museum’s “Clearing the Way” ceremony, which officially kicked off the museum’s construction. Museum leaders said they chose her birthday for the ceremony on purpose, because everything they’re building centers on her legacy.
THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES
The birthday festivities aren’t over yet! Former First Lady joins Dr. Lee this evening at the Fort Worth Convention Center for the museum’s speaker series.
