In pearls and a purple pantsuit, her hair a crown of silver ringlets, Opal Lee beamed as a ballroom full of Horned Frogs applauded when she slowly stepped center stage. Then, as quickly as her audience stood for an ovation, she motioned them to sit, indicating enough of the celebrity treatment.
It was time for 98-year-old Lee – author, educator, activist, honorary TCU doctorate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee – to get to business. Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Lee was ready to talk about her journey, most notably making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
The March 28 program was part of the Silver Frogs 10th anniversary speaker series. Silver Frogs, a membership within TCU Extended Education, brings together adults 50 and older who share a love of learning and community. The program was also open to TCU faculty and staff.
Lee was joined by her granddaughter, Dione Sims, and Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, senior advisor to the chancellor for university culture, who facilitated the conversation. He asked Lee about her story, which took a life-changing turn at age 12, when her family was threatened by an angry white mob that would destroy and burn their home in east Fort Worth.
“My dad had a gun, and a policeman told him, if he busted one cap, he’d let the crowd at us,” Lee recalled of that terrifying moment. “My parents did the responsible thing and left. They never talked about it.”
But Lee never forgot the incident, which occurred on June 19, coincidentally Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., specifically the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to announce the freedom of enslaved people.
Lee would go on to earn a bachelor’s in elementary education and teach for 30 years, then earned a master’s in counseling, serving as a home/school counselor for nine. She also raised four children while helping organize Fort Worth’s annual Juneteenth celebrations for more than 40 years.
But Lee wanted Juneteenth to be more than just a celebration and made it her mission to make it a federal holiday.
“She doesn’t just do one day,” said Sims of her grandmother’s work.
That mission took education and activism, both of which Lee accomplished by walking 1,400 miles in 2016 at age 89 from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. As she daily walked 2.5 miles – representing the years it took for news of emancipation to reach Texas – she promoted a petition that received 1.6 million signatures.
Five years later, Lee went to the White House, where Juneteenth was officially named a national holiday. Lee’s campaign was a success, but more work was to come in her unwavering commitment to equality and justice, for which she would be recognized with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024.
Lee next was instrumental in advocating for the National Juneteenth Museum on Fort Worth’s southside and is a founding board member. Said Lee of the museum’s 50,000-square-foot cultural center, which will host guest lectures, community events and business incubators: It “will be off the chain.”
This year’s Juneteenth, 2.5-mile walks are planned across the country, including Fort Worth.
“We’ll celebrate our freedom together and that we are one people,” said Sims, who noted her grandmother will once again be in the middle of it all.
“In those 2.5 miles, I always delight that when you walk and talk, you can find someone who’s going to listen,” Lee said. “I feel like everybody’s grandmother – and you usually listen and do what your grandmother tells you to do.”
Asked if she still has hope for the country, given political division, she said, “I haven’t lost faith, and you shouldn’t either. What makes you think God can’t unite us, and hopefully sooner than later?”
Like the Golden Rule, Lee left attendees with some advice.
“Take care of your neighbor,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be spectacular. Smile at someone, run errands. The sooner the better. I hit the floor every day and try not to think about my joints hurting and being 98, because there are people in need. Go find the someone and fix the need.”