'Grandmother of Juneteenth' reflects on meaning of federal holiday
TAMPA, Fla. - At the age of 96, Opal Lee has lived through nearly 40% of our nation’s history. She also walked her way into history with marches that helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
She’s known as the "grandmother of Juneteenth."
"I’m humbled, but I want people to know Juneteenth means freedom," she said. "If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love."
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President Abraham Lincoln ordered America’s slaves to be freed in 1863 during the U.S. Civil War. But, our military could not enforce it until it reached the areas where the Confederate rebels kept their slaves.
While the rebels surrendered in April 1865, it took federal troops several weeks to ride south and west to set people free.
"The message had not reached those people in Galveston, Texas. Even in Tampa and even all of Florida, it took until May 20," said Bolaji Ajike, who helped organize the Juneteenth Festival at Raymond James Stadium.
That’s why we celebrate Florida’s Emancipation Day on May 20, but it took longer for U.S. troops to reach Texas, which still had an estimated 250,000 slaves.
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General Gordon Granger issued the general order to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865. It took another six months to write it into the U.S. Constitution and free all the slaves in the border states. But, June 19 (or Juneteenth Independence Day) was the turning point of our nation’s path to freedom.
The celebrations started in the Galveston/Houston area. Freed slaves moved into Houston’s Freedman Town. They laid bricks that still line the streets and created a ten-acre park known as Emancipation Park, where they celebrated their freedom every year on June 19.
The celebrations expanded through Texas, where a young Opal Lee entered the picture.
"When it was time to go home, they pulled the plug and turned the lights out. That’s how we knew it was time to go home, except this time we were having so much fun, I got in a flat-bed truck and put that plug back in, and we partied until dawn," she said.
Juneteenth celebrations helped clear her mind of what happened that same day when she was twelve. A racist mob set her family’s house on fire.
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"Five-hundred people gathered. Would you believe on the 19th of June? Those people pulled the furniture out and burned it. They did despicable things," said Lee.
She felt the pain of hate and made it her mission to overcome it by sharing the joy she felt in those Juneteenth parties.
Year by year, celebrations expanded across the nation. Texas formally recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday in 1980.
Florida was the second state to recognize it in 1991, while Opal Lee kept pushing for more through a series of marches.
"People walked with me, and cars followed. I thought we’d have 10-15 cars. We had 300 cars," she said.
She led the campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday for years. And in 2021, U.S. Congress delivered. The Juneteenth holiday passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate and overwhelmingly in the U.S. House.
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Only 14 representatives voted against it (none of them from Florida). President Joe Biden invited Opal to the White House as he signed the new federal holiday into law.
"I want people to know Juneteenth means freedom. And that's not just for black people or Texas people. It's for everybody," Lee noted. "Freedom, real freedom, is everybody's responsibility."