HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Dr. Opal Lee, also known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth" is in Huntsville to celebrate "The Joy of Juneteenth."
She's doing a book signing and a public dialogue panel in partnership with UAH.
Dr. Lee describes herself as, "a little old lady in tennis shoes getting into everybody else's business and having a good time doing that...that's Opal Lee and she's been at it a long time, a long time, 40 years to get Juneteenth, a national holiday."
Lee is an educator and a long-time social activist. Her knowledge of the Juneteenth holiday began at an early age.
"I was a little one in Marshall, Texas, that's where I was born when they'd have Juneteenth celebrations, we'd go to the fairground and there'd be music and food," Lee said.
It wasn't until she moved to Fort Worth, Texas that the celebrations dwindled. But she met a prominent figure.
"I met Lenora Rolla…She had been asked by the city of Fort Worth to gather material written about how blacks had helped in the growth of Fort Worth."
Back then, they found nothing written, which prompted Rolla to start the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society, something Lee became a member of.
And she acts as the oldest living board member of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation which was started by the late Dr. Ronald Meyers who also greatly influenced her activism.
"He was adamant about Juneteenth becoming a national holiday. And so a kind of think someone rubbed off on me," Lee said.
And it sure did rub off on Lee, she and her team got a petition signed by over 1 million people for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
The petition was delivered to Congress in 2017, and the kicker, "I was going to walk from Fort Worth to Washington, DC, 1400 miles to make people aware that Juneteenth needed to be a holiday," Lee said.
And at 89 years old she did walk. Now, fast forward to June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday and Lee was invited.
"Oh I tell you, I wanted to do a holy dance," Lee said.
This recognition is still a shock to her, "sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if it's really true and I've got so many things that I want to do," Lee said.
Lee believes acknowledging Juneteenth as a federal holiday is just the beginning as she says there are still many disparities within the country.
"We must join together to right the wrongs. And there's so many. And people need to know that we're brothers and sisters under the skin," Lee said.
She's hopeful things can change, "if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love."
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