Courtesy: Opal Le
Opal Lee has been doing this work for a long time. At 99, the Grandmother of Juneteenth is still at it. This year, she marks the holiday with a new book. A Committee of One, from Amistad, brings together a lifetime of lessons about freedom, community and what it takes to make real change.
Part personal story and part how-to guide, the book draws on Lee’s decades of work helping others. It also covers her years of pushing to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. She hopes readers walk away ready to do that same kind of work in their own lives.
A life built on community before Juneteenth
Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Lee looked forward to Juneteenth every year. The holiday meant food, neighbors and games with friends. It was one of the happiest parts of her childhood. Then, at age 12, a racist mob destroyed her family’s home just four days after they moved in. Her parents had worked hard to buy the house in a mostly white part of the city. The loss stayed with her for the rest of her life.
In the years that followed, Lee became a visiting teacher. She helped students who were struggling to get food, a safe place to stay and basic clothing. Lee also ran a food pantry and a farm that gave jobs to people who had served time in prison. All of that, she writes, helped lay the groundwork for what came next.
Then, in 2023, Habitat for Humanity gave her something back. The group built a new home for her on the same land where her childhood house once stood. She still lives there today. For Lee, getting that land back was more than a gift. It was proof that the right kind of work pays off over time.
The walk that launched a Juneteenth movement
In 2016, at 89 years old, Lee began walking 2.5 miles a day. That distance stood for the two and a half years it took for freedom news to reach Texas. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Even so, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, did not hear they were free until June 19, 1865. This Juneteenth marks 161 years since that day. Few Americans know the full length of that wait.
By 2020, her push for a national holiday had gathered more than 1.6 million supporters. Then, in 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Lee attended the signing at the White House. In May 2024, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
What celebrating Juneteenth looks like today
Today, Lee takes her symbolic 2.5-mile walk by car in Fort Worth. Others join her there and host their own walks in cities like Cincinnati, Honolulu and Los Angeles. Her granddaughter Promise Roland says many people have the wrong idea about the holiday. They think it belongs only to Black Americans or Texans. Lee pushes back firmly. Freedom, she says, belongs to everyone.
In her book, Lee maps out her monthlong Juneteenth routine. It starts with a morning prayer for unity. Then comes the Miss Juneteenth pageant and a three-day festival. That festival includes a film event, cook-offs, college fairs, fireworks, music and learning events. She says freedom is not a single moment. It is a daily choice to be kind, speak up for others and look out for your community.
A centennial and a bigger goal
Even as she gets ready to turn 100 in October, Lee is still thinking ahead. She wants Juneteenth to run all the way through the Fourth of July. Together, she says, the two holidays tell a bigger story about what freedom in America truly means. She also wants the days in between to spark honest thought across the country. Not just celebration, but a real look at how far freedom has and has not come.
SOURCE: USA TODAY
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