User:Esschumann/Opal Lee

Opal Lee
Opal Lee (born 7 October 1926) is an educator and civil rights activist from Fort Worth, Texas. She is best known for her efforts to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday and is often referred to as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth."

Early Life
Opal Lee was born on October 7, 1926 and grew up in Marshall, Texas. When she was 10 years old, Lee and her family moved to Fort Worth, Texas. On June 19, 1939, when Lee was 12 years old, 500 white rioters raided and burned down her childhood home in the Terrell Heights Neighborhood of Fort Worth. Opal Lee attended I.M. Terrell High School, Fort Worth's first black high school. She graduated high school in 1943 at the age of 16.

Career
In 1952, Lee graduated Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, receiving her Bachelor's degree in elementary education. Lee later attended North Texas State University (now University of North Texas) where she earned her Master's Degree in Counseling and Guidance. After receiving her Master's Degree, Lee returned to Fort Worth where she was an educator and counselor for fifteen years. In 1967, she married Dale Lee when she was a teacher as McCoy Elementary School and he was the principal at Morningside Elementary.

Following her retirement from teaching in 1976, Lee became involved in Fort Worth community causes. Lee helped found the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society alongside Civil Rights activist, Lenora Rolla. She helped organize Fort Worth's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, Black History Month, and Juneteenth celebration. Lee helped campaign for Ann Richards, Texas Gubernatorial candidate. During the 1980s, Lee originated a tradition of bringing Fort Worth city leaders on an annual bus tour through economically depressed areas of Fort Worth, pointing out landmarks important to Fort Worth's minority communities.

In 2016, Lee began campaigning to make Juneteenth a national holiday. At the age of 89, Lee began walking 2.5 miles every day, symbolizing the 2.5 years between the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the day news of freedom arrived to enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.

Lee's efforts have received national attention. In