Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth, turns 100 today, and her team has two marquee events scheduled for her centennial celebration.
The morning begins with a “Clearing the Way” ceremony at the future site of the National Juneteenth Museum, and former First Lady Michelle Obama headlines the museum’s evening event at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
“100 years? Gee whiz. I guess it’s alright for old people to make their mark,” Lee told KERA News and the Fort Worth Report last year. “When I have my 100th birthday I’m going to shut it down. If I make it to 101, that’s gonna be gravy.”
Lee earned her nickname and national recognition after she set out on a campaign to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
In 2016, when she was 89, Lee hosted a series of 2.5-mile walks in cities on the way from Fort Worth to Washington D.C.
The 2.5 miles represented the 2.5 years between President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to inform enslaved Texans of their freedom.
“I decided that the rest of the cotton-picking country needed to know about Juneteenth too,” Lee said. “Because in Texas, we celebrated Juneteenth, and so I started advocating Juneteenth from one town to another, from one city to another, and after a while—and I’m so proud—it’s a national holiday.
“I could do a holy dance, but they tell you, when I do a holy dance, I’m twerking, whatever that is.”
Lee’s campaigning was successful, and in 2021, then-President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Age has slowed Lee a little, but it hasn’t curbed her ambition. Her current focus is on seeing the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth become a reality.
The museum has a goal to raise $70 million before breaking ground. They’ve raised over $50 million so far and need another $20 million to reach their goal.
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Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.