Opal Lee,The Grandmother of Juneteenth

Episode Description

From a hot June day in Galveston Bay in 1865 to a “little old lady in tennis shoes” standing in the White House in 2021, this episode of The Texan Edge follows the long road of Juneteenth through the life and grit of Opal Lee. Tweed Scott walks you from General Order No. 3 to a national holiday, tracing how one determined Texas woman turned memory into motion—2.5 miles at a time. This is Tex-A-Tude: freedom, responsibility, and the quiet courage to keep walking until the truth is finally recognized.

Show Notes

• Setting the stage in Galveston, 1865
  • Union soldiers land in Galveston on a hot June day
  • General Order No. 3 announces freedom for enslaved people in Texas
  • Freedom arrives two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation
• Birth of Juneteenth
  • Newly freed Texans begin marking June 19 as a celebration in 1866
  • Churchyards, fields, and later parks like Emancipation Park in Houston become gathering places
  • Families pray, sing, feast, and tell the story so children won’t forget “the day it changed for us”
• From local memory to wider recognition
  • Juneteenth slowly spreads beyond Galveston and Texas
  • 1980: Texas becomes the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday
  • State Representative Al Edwards, “Mr. Juneteenth,” helps lead that effort
• Enter Opal Lee
  • Born in 1926, Opal Lee grows up with Juneteenth as part of family life
  • She believes the whole nation—not just Texas—should honor the day
  • Instead of waiting for “someone” to act, she decides to walk
• Walking 2.5 miles for 2.5 years
  • In 2016, at age 89, Opal Lee begins a symbolic walk from Fort Worth toward Washington, D.C.
  • In city after city, she walks 2.5 miles to represent the 2.5-year delay between proclamation and enforcement
  • Every step says: freedom delayed is still freedom worth fighting for
• Petition, persistence, and “the grandmother of Juneteenth”
  • Opal Lee helps gather more than 1.5 million signatures for a national holiday
  • She partners with organizations, speaks, and keeps telling the story
  • She earns nicknames like “grandmother of Juneteenth” and “little old lady in tennis shoes” as she quietly moves mountains
• A nation’s turning point
  • 2020 brings protests, pandemic strain, and renewed focus on racial justice
  • Juneteenth shifts from regional observance to a national conversation: why isn’t this already a federal holiday?
  • Momentum grows in Congress with support from both parties
• Juneteenth becomes a federal holiday
  • June 2021: Congress passes legislation establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day
  • June 17, 2021: the President signs it into law
  • Opal Lee, now 94, stands behind the President and witnesses the moment she has walked toward for years
• Honoring Opal Lee in Texas
  • February 8, 2023: her portrait is unveiled and placed in the Texas Senate Chamber
  • First new portrait there in over four decades
  • Opal Lee is only the second Black Texan honored with a portrait in the chamber, alongside Barbara Jordan
  • The portrait by Texas artist Jess Coleman recognizes her decades-long campaign for Juneteenth
• Tex-A-Tude: what this means for us
  • Freedom is not just a slogan; it’s a promise paid for in suffering, struggle, and perseverance
  • Even “obvious” truths often require ordinary people doing extraordinary, persistent things
  • You’re never too old, too small, or too late to take your own “2.5-mile” step
• Your Edge for the day
  • Don’t just enjoy your freedom—help remember it and extend it
  • Ask: “What step can I take, right where I am, that nudges the world a little closer to what it ought to be?”
• Closing invitation
  • If this walk through Juneteenth’s story gave you something to chew on, share The Texan Edge with one person and tell them why you listen
  • That personal handoff is how this little show finds new ears

This isn't just a podcast, it's a Texas state of mind.

Transcript

Galveston And The Delayed News

SPEAKER_00 0:04

From Galveston Bay to Opal Lee's Walk. On a hot June day in 1865, Union soldiers stepped off a ship in Galveston, Texas, carrying a message that was late but life-changing. They read an order that said in plain language that the people held in slavery in Texas were now free. Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. For thousands of men, women, and children, that moment turned the word Juneteenth into a doorway. Fast forward more than a century and a half, and a little lady in tennis shoes is still walking that freedom forward. Hi there, I'm Tweed Scott, and this is The Texan Edge. Three days a week, we take a piece of Texas history or Texas character and turn it into something that you can carry into your own day. Today, we're walking from Galveston Bay in 1865 all the way to Washington, D.C. with a Texas woman named Opal Lee. She's leading the way. Let's start at the beginning of the story, though. The Civil War was winding down. President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation back on January 1st, 1863, declaring that enslaved people in Confederate States free. But paper doesn't move as fast as people's lives. Texas was far from the main battlefields, and enslavers in the state had every incentive to keep the news and its enforcement slow and muddy. By June of 1865, an estimated 250,000 enslaved people were still in bondage here in Texas. Then, on June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with federal troops. He read General Order No. three announcing that all enslaved people in Texas were free and that there would now be an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves. In that moment the law finally caught up, at least on paper, with a promise that had been hanging in the air for years.

How Juneteenth Became A Tradition

SPEAKER_00 2:30

The very next year in eighteen sixty six, newly freed Texans began commemorating that date with what we now call Juneteenth, Freedom Day. They gathered in fields, churchyards, and later in places like Emancipation Park in Houston to pray, to sing, to feast, and to tell the story so that the children wouldn't forget. Over time, Juneteenth spread beyond Galveston, beyond Texas, and as people carry those memories with them, it didn't become a holiday by accident. In nineteen eighty, Texas became the first state to officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday, thanks in large part to State Representative Al Edwards, often called Mr. Juneteenth. Other states slowly followed, but the federal government, well, it took its time. For decades, Juneteenth was widely celebrated and yet barely recognized in Washington, D.C.

Opal Lee Starts Walking History

SPEAKER_00 3:32

And that's where a Texas woman named Opal Lee enters the trail. Opal Lee was born in 1926 in Texas and grew up with Juneteenth as part of her family's life. She knew all the stories. She felt the weight of that date, and she believed that the whole country ought to honor it, not just pockets of Texas. So instead of just saying, hey, somebody ought to do something, she put on her walking shoes. And in 2016, at the age of 89, Opal Lee set out from her hometown of Fort Worth and began walking toward Washington, DC. She didn't walk every mile straight. That'd be a tall order for anybody, much less an eighty-nine year old. But in city after city, across this country, she walked 2.5 miles. That 2.5 wasn't random. It symbolized the two and a half years between the Emancipation Proclamation and the day freedom was finally enforced in Texas. Every step was a reminder. Freedom delayed is still freedom worth fighting for. Alongside those walks, she helped gather signatures, over one and a half million of them on a petition to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She worked with national organizations, spoke at events, and kept telling the story with patience, persistence, and that quiet Texas grit. They started calling her the grandmother of Juneteenth and the little old lady in tennis shoes. But don't let that fool you. She was moving mountains one step at a

From Reckoning To Federal Holiday

SPEAKER_00 5:16

time. Then the country hit a moment of reckoning. In twenty twenty, amid protest over racial injustice, pandemic pressures, and a hard national conversation, more and more Americans turned their attention to Juneteenth. What had been a regional celebration for generations suddenly became a national question. Why wasn't this already a federal holiday? Momentum built. Lawmakers from both parties came on board. In june twenty twenty one, Congress passed a bill to make Juneteenth National Independence Day a federal holiday. And on june seventeenth, twenty twenty one, President Joe Biden signed that bill into law. Standing behind him at ninety four years old was Opal Lee of Fort Worth, Texas, watching the day she'd walked toward for years finally arrive. Think about that arc for a second, though. From a hot day in Galveston in 1865 to backyard celebrations the next year into a Texas state holiday in 1980, and to an elderly Texan lacing up her shoes in 2016 to a federal holiday in 2021. That's a long road.

Her Legacy And Your Next Step

SPEAKER_00 6:38

The portrait of Opal Lee was unveiled and permanently placed in the Texas State Senate Chamber on February 8th, 2023. The ceremony took place at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. A few interesting facts about the portrait, though, it was the first new portrait commissioned for the Texas Senate Chamber in 43 years. Opal Lee became only the second black Texan honored with a portrait in the Senate chamber, joining Senator Barbara Jordan. The portrait was painted by Texas artist Jess Coleman. Lee was honored for her decades-long campaign to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, which became law in 2021. Ms. Lee's journey was a road paved with faith, memory, and the simple belief that truth deserves to be recognized. So what's the textitude in all this? First, freedom isn't just a word that we toss around. It's a promise that people bled, cried, and marched for. Second, even when something ought to be obvious, like honoring the end of slavery, it still takes ordinary folks doing extraordinary, persistent things to make it real. And third, you're never too old or too small to move the needle if you're willing to walk your two and a half miles. Whatever that looks like in your life, here's your edge for the day. Don't just enjoy your freedom, help remember it and extend it. Take a page from Opal Lee's book and ask, what step can I take right where I am now that pushes the world a little closer to what it ought to be? As I record this episode, Ms. Lee just is just a few months away from reaching her 100th birthday. So if this walkthrough Juneteenth story gave you something worth chewing on, well, would you share the tax and edge for me? Sure appreciate it. Just share with one person today and tell them why you've listened. That personal handoff is how this little show finds its new ears. I'm Tweed Scott. Thanks for walking with me today. We'll meet up again real soon on the next stretch of Texas History and Texatude. See ya then.