In November 2022, I was asked by the publisher of One to Know magazine to write a profile on Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth. I knew others had written stories about Ms. Opal’s accomplishments to help make Juneteenth a federal holiday. I decided to write a story about what Ms. Opal wants us to carry on from her work and her commitment to making life better for others. She was inspiring. Here is a copy of my story published in the print magazine.
By: Rebecca Aguilar
The history of Opal Lee’s life covers the walls of her Fort Worth home. Numerous awards and mementos for her community and civil rights work. Photos of her family’s ancestry hang on a small, wired tree. A large painting of another family tree spreads its branches across a dining room wall.
She is in a back bedroom on this day, relaxing in her favorite easy chair. “My mother was one of 19 children,” she tells a reporter who has called her from Tyler, Texas, for a live radio interview. “My mother was passionate about her children.”
At 96 years old, she is used to telling her life story a few times a week to the media or at public events where she is celebrated and honored for everything she has done in her long life, from helping unhoused and needy families in Fort Worth to spearheading efforts to turn Juneteenth into a national federal holiday.
Family, friends, and supporters know her as “Ms. Opal.” They also know she is on several missions in life, and she is not done yet. People often ask her why she hasn’t slowed down at her age.
“As long you have breath, and as long as you can help others, you should do so,” she says. “I got a list. I don’t know how long, but when I wake up, I know there are things that have to be done.”
Shelves full of books inhabit most rooms in her house. Short and tall stacks of books line her bedroom, along with more shelves, books, awards, and gifts. The books are mostly about Black history or by female authors like former Georgia State Representative and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and American novelist Toni Morrison.
Opal admits she has not read them all, but each one of the books brings her inspiration that she hopes to pass on to the next generation.
There are many lessons to be learned from Ms. Opal.
Independence: Create your journey
Opal Lee credits her inner strength and independence to her mother and grandmother. Two women, she says, who taught her to care for others.
Lee was born in 1926 in Marshall, Texas. When she was ten, her mother moved the family to Fort Worth to join her father. Her parents eventually divorced.
“My dad joined the Navy when I was in high school, and he had another family,” she says. “So he was not in the picture at all.”
Her mother became the breadwinner for the family, making sure her daughter and two sons had food on the table.
“I understood why they didn’t make it,” Opal says. “I understood. My mother wanted things, and she was going to work for them, and she was not going to put up with you if you lagged behind.”
Opal would become just as independent as the women who raised her.
Determination: Like mother, like daughter
Opal graduated from I.M. Terrell High School, Fort Worth’s first Black high school, when she was 16 and decided to get married. She disappointed her mother, who wanted her daughter to go to college. Her mother refused to go to the wedding. But four years and with four children into the marriage, Opal decided to get a divorce.
“I cut my losses and went home to my mom,” Opal says. “I had the nerve to say I can go to college now.”
She believes her determination helped her get a college education, juggle multiple jobs and raise her children at the same time. Her mother cared for her children in Fort Worth during the week while she attended college in Marshall and worked at the college bookstore. On weekends, Opal took a bus home to Fort Worth and worked other jobs.
“I finished college three and a half years because I could not stay for four,” she adds. “I had kids.”
After graduating from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, in 1952, she landed her first job.
“I got a job teaching school, making $2,000 a year,” she says. “I couldn’t feed four kids on that money.”
Opal got a second job because she was determined to buy her own home and raise her children, and eventually, she saved enough to buy the house she still lives in today.
Tenacity: Getting Juneteenth recognized
Opal set her mind on making Juneteenth a national holiday, and she would do everything in her power to make it a reality.
“This is not a ‘me’ thing but a ‘we’ thing,” she says, as she remembers how Lenora Rolla and Dr. Ronald Myers played a significant role in establishing Juneteenth as a day of celebration.
“Dr. Ronald Myers was a medical doctor, minister and jazz musician all rolled into one,” Opal says as she reflects on the impact of her good friend. “And he was adamant about Juneteenth becoming a national holiday. He had traveled all over the country, encouraging people to have Juneteenth celebrations.”
Dr. Myers died in 2018.
She knows that Dr. Myers would have been proud that Juneteenth is finally recognized as a national holiday.
“I think sometimes he looks down and says, ‘Well, it’s about time you got it done,’” she says.
Lee also helped establish the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society in 1974 with Lenora Butler Rolla, a political activist, community leader, journalist, and teacher. Lee said in the mid-1970s, the society started organizing the annual Fort Worth Juneteenth celebrations.
She campaigned to make Juneteenth a federal holiday by having annual 2 ½-mile walks because enslaved people in Texas did not know about the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation until 2 ½ years after it happened.
“I learned from my mother and my grandparents that if you are passionate about something, don’t let anything turn you around,” she says.
Opal was 89 when she launched a symbolic walk from Fort Worth in September 2016 to Washington, D.C., that she finished in January 2017.
“Naysayers thought I was crazy walking from Fort Worth, some 1,400 miles,” she says. “But if you’re passionate about something that is going to lift you, your family, your community, then you have to stick with it come hell or high water.”
Opal also launched a petition for a Juneteenth federal holiday that garnered more than 1.5 million signatures and was shared by celebrities.
Her tenacity paid off on June 17, 2021, when she stood next to President Joe Biden at a White House ceremony as he signed the bill into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Opal received a standing ovation.
“I was thinking how good God is and how he allows things to happen in his time, not ours,” she says.
Make yourself a committee of one
Opal springs into action when she sees a void in life or someone in need. She hopes her work will encourage others to do the same.
“It’s our responsibility to look out for each other,” she says. “Make yourself a committee of one.”
As a school teacher, she eventually became a visiting teacher who helped students who needed food, clothing or a place to stay. She always found a way to get families help.
“I knew what I had gone through raising my children, and I knew parents were working and not making enough money,” she says “Sometimes sending their children to school with no shoes.”
She worked at the Community Food Bank for years and still delivers food to needy people.
“When people work together, we can get so much more done, Opal says.“So much more.”
People taught to hate can be taught to love
The rise of racism worries Opal, but she strongly feels we all have the ability to change our minds.
“And I expect us to change minds and teach people to love,” she explains “We don’t need guns.”
Opal knows hate. She was 12 years old when she said a white mob torched her home, destroying all her family’s belongings. It happened to be June 19, 1939.
She also grew up in a segregated society when Blacks were not allowed to shop, eat or attend a school where white people would go.
But despite all the racism she has encountered, Opal believes there is hope for the haters even today.
“That can be changed,” she says “We can talk people out of hate. It’s not going to be done in a day. You’ll have to work at it, but it can be done.”
Always have a mission in life
In 2022, Lee was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but the award went to activists in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. While she appreciated being nominated for the prestigious award, she saysher concentration was still on a long list of projects she needs to accomplish that focus on citizens without homes or health care and climate change.
“If I don’t get them all done, the next day, I wake up and work on the same list,” she says. “It’s a list that is getting longer and longer.”
Everywhere she visits and everyone she touches in her path, Opal hopes they are listening and finding their own path to make life better for others.
“The Bible tells us that we are our brother’s keeper,” she says “You can’t just look out for your family, and the rest of us – next door and down the street – need some attention too.”
Opal has a deep love for family, community and God and plans to leave a lasting message when she says it is time to leave this earth.
“On my headstone, I want people to know we are survivors, our brother’s keeper, and we must continue to fight for what is right,” she says.
###
Rebecca Aguilar 