Opal Lee receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Fort Worth’s Opal Lee, also known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 3, 2024.
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Opal Lee has held many titles for nearly 100 years, including mother, grandmother, teacher, and activist. But she is most notable for being the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” the woman who helped propel the federal government to recognize the holiday.
June 16 of this year marks the 161st anniversary of the day we learned that the last group of slaves in Galveston, Texas, were freed. The proclamation came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. June 1st will become a federal holiday in 2021.
Lee, 99, is celebrating this year by sharing stories of his work on “A Committee of One,” now available on Amistad. Part memoir and part self-help book, A Committee of One reads like loving advice and wisdom from your grandmother.
“There are people who came before us, people who took the time to pass things on to us in ways that we learn. So it’s our responsibility to see others learn from us,” Lee told USA TODAY. “We have to take time with them. It’s as simple as that.”
Opal Lee led a movement to celebrate Juneteenth nationwide
As a child, Juneteenth celebrations were something I looked forward to each year, Lee writes in “A Committee of One.” She has fond childhood memories of food-filled celebrations with her neighbors, jumping rope and playing ball.
“We ate everything that wasn’t set in stone,” says Lee.
But not all Juneteenth memories are happy ones. When Ms. Lee was 12 years old, a racist mob destroyed her family’s home and all their belongings. The family has only spent four days in the house, which Lee’s parents “worked tirelessly to buy” in a predominantly white neighborhood. In her memoir, she remembers feeling numb when her father told her to take everything she had and run away from home.
“At the age of 12, I received my first lesson about the evils of injustice in this world,” she writes. “I plan to do everything I can for the next 85 years to highlight the good that I believe still exists in this world.”
In 2023, Habitat for Humanity returned her childhood land and built a home on it. She still lives there.
Lee spent the next 85 years of his life making a difference in his community and beyond. As a “guest teacher,” she helped students who needed access to food, shelter, and clothing. She ran a food pantry and community farm that employed formerly incarcerated people. She said in her memoir that this “laid the foundation for subsequent work” in the Juneteenth awareness campaign. She was shocked to learn that the holiday was celebrated primarily by black Texans.
In 2016, Lee, then 89, walked 4.5 miles a day from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., representing a two-and-a-half year delay. In 2020, her petition gathered over 1.6 million signatures. Then-President Joe Biden signed the National Independence Day Act on June 1, 2021, and Lee visited the White House. She remembers it as a “precious day.”
Freedom “belongs to everyone,” says Opal Lee.
Today, Lee is celebrating by taking that iconic 4.5-mile walk by car in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. Participants will walk alongside her there and host their own walks in cities such as Cincinnati, Honolulu and Los Angeles.
“Juneteenth is so much more than we imagine,” Lee says. Lee’s granddaughter, Promise Roland, who was present during our conversation, added that there is a misconception that the holiday is only for black Americans or Texans.
In his memoir, Lee outlines his month-long Juneteenth practice. She begins her morning with a “prayer breakfast” to call for “national unity.” She writes that she’s celebrating with a Miss Juneteenth pageant and a three-day festival that includes a film festival, cooking contest, college recruiting fair, fireworks, music and educational seminars. And of course, there’s Opal’s Walk for Freedom.
She calls freedom “daily habits” of kindness, advocacy, community support, and joy. “No one is free until we’re all free,” she previously told USA TODAY in 2022.
“When I practice freedom, I tell you, it’s for everyone and means we need to share what we know and what we do with others and with other young people in every way possible,” says Lee. “Help them learn that there is more to life than just a little pond in which to swim.”
As Lee prepares to celebrate his 100th birthday in October, he still has big dreams. She believes extending Juneteenth from June 19 to July 4 allows the two holidays to “stand tall, not as replacements, but as completions of a story of freedom.”
Claire Mulroy is USA TODAY’s books reporter, covering hot releases, chatting with authors, and diving into reading culture. please find her on instagramsubscribe to our weekly magazine book newsletter Or tell her what you’re reading cmulroy@usatoday.com.
