WASHINGTON – After President Joe Biden placed the Presidential Medal of Freedom around her neck and kissed her on the forehead Friday, Opal Lee grinned excitedly and threw up her arms.
Biden bestowed the Fort Worth icon with the highest civilian honor and praised Lee's relentless push to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
“Juneteenth is a day of deep, profound weight and power that remembers the original sin of slavery and our extraordinary ability to rise from our most painful moments with a better vision for ourselves,” Biden said. “Miss Opal Lee has made it her mission to create history, not erase it. We are a better country because of you.”
Mr. Lee, 97, was one of 19 medal recipients honored at the White House for exemplary service to the United States and the world.
Black communities, particularly those in Texas, have celebrated June 19 since 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, bringing with them the news that enslaved people were freed. This was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lee was born 60 years later. In 1939, she and her family were forced from their Fort Worth home by a racist mob, furious that they had moved into a white neighborhood, and burned down her home.
Her passion for preserving history led to a year-long campaign to spread awareness about Juneteenth.
In 2016, she embarked on a symbolic journey from Fort Worth to Washington, DC. This trip raised her profile on Juneteenth, garnered her support for formal statehood, and helped earn her the title “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”
Biden noted that Friday's ceremony was held in the East Room, where Lee signed a bill in 2021 that would make June 1 the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was the same space he was in when he was there.
Biden called it “one of the most important pieces of legislation” of his presidency and described how he handed the first signature pen to Lee, “the granddaddy of the movement who helped make this bill a reality.”
After Friday's ceremony, Lee held court with reporters and spoke about how excited he was to join the other medal winners and hear about their accomplishments.
Others honored Friday included prominent figures in sports, the arts and politics, including former Vice President Al Gore, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative James Clyburn.
Several were honored posthumously, including slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers.
Lee promised that his work was not done yet.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” she said.
“I'm talking about homelessness and unemployment, and some of us have access to health care and some of us don't,” Lee said. “Climate change is our responsibility and we need to do something about it. If we don't, we're all going to end up in hell in a handbasket.”
Lee developed some of his favorite sayings, such as, “If you can be taught to hate, you can also be taught to love.” She appealed to people to become a “one-man committee” to push for change.
She also repeated an earlier line about being fired up enough to do a “sacred dance,” although young people may think her movements look like “twerking.” She had no intention of doing that in the White House.
Lee was asked about the protests sweeping college campuses and young people feeling ignored. Although she sympathizes with the protesters, she said she deplores the violence and division she is witnessing.
She encouraged people to talk to their political opponents face-to-face and extolled the virtues of patience and faith in God as the best way to bring about change.
Lee also touted progress in fundraising for the $70 million National Juneteenth Museum, scheduled to open in Fort Worth in 2026.
Also on her mind was the annual 4.5-mile Freedom Walk through Fort Worth's historic Southside neighborhood. She used Friday's event to promote this year's Juneteenth activities.
“I'm going to walk 2.5 miles in Fort Worth and across the country to symbolize the two and a half years I didn't know I was free,” Lee said. “We're leaving at the same time in Fort Worth, Dallas and across the country to let people know we still have a ways to go.”
