Exactly 85 years after her family was burned out of an all-white neighborhood, the 97-year-old “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” is moving back to the address where the fire was set.
Opal Lee was 12 years old when a racist mob — determined to prevent her family from living in an all-white neighborhood — set her home on fire on June 19, 1939, at 940 East Annie Street, in Fort Worth, Texas.
“If they had given us an opportunity to stay there and be their neighbors, they would have found out we didn’t want any more than what they had: a decent place to stay, jobs that paid, able to go to school in the neighborhood — even if it was a segregated school,” Lee said. “We would have been good neighbors, but they didn’t give us an opportunity. And I felt like everyone needs an opportunity.”
She got an opportunity to return to the same address when Habitat for Humanity, History Maker Homes and Capital Bank teamed up in Fort Worth and handed Lee the keys to a new house on June 14. Lee had offered to buy it. They gave it to her instead.
“I dream about meeting the new neighbors and inviting them into a housewarming so I could get to know them all,” Lee said. “This is just a dream come true for me and I’m so excited.”
The amenities for Lee’s new home
Lee’s new 1,700-square-foot home has three bedrooms and two baths, along with many new amenities like a walk-in tub, her very own library area and some furnishings she used to have in her old home — only upgraded a bit.
“Team members were able to take an old sofa and chair that were in her old home that were threadbare and reupholster them,” he says. “According to one family member she was upset to see those go. So, it’ll be fun to see if she even recognizes the furniture and just see her reaction when she walks in.”
In 2016, at 89, Lee walked 2.5-mile segments from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., inspiring the movement to celebrate Juneteenth, the day when freedom finally came to the over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865. Each step marked the 2.5 years it took for the Emancipation Proclamation, a presidential order on Jan. 1, 1863, to be enforced in Texas.
The campaign to make it a federal holiday earned the retired teacher the moniker, “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” In 2021, five years later, President Joe Biden signed it into law after the Senate passed it unanimously.
“There’s so many things that still need to be done,” Lee said. “We have got to get rid of the homelessness and the joblessness and health care that some of us can get and others can’t.”
Biden renewed his commitment to the values that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in America while taking jabs at those who decry it.
“There are old ghosts in new garments trying to take us back … taking away your freedoms; making it harder for Black people to vote or have your vote counted; closing doors of opportunity; attacking the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion; if you can believe it, banning books about Black experiences in America; trying to erase and rewrite history,” the president said.
“Our history is not just about the past, it’s about our present and our future. It’s whether that future is a future for all of us, not just for some of us. Folks, Black history is American history. That’s why Kamala and I and our administration will always uplift it and protect it.”
