The Grandmother of Juneteenth, still battling for change at 98

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Opal Lee is now affectionately known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. She led the campaign for the 19th June, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas were finally told that they were free, to be declared a national holiday. As President Biden signed the bill into law, Opal stood beside him. She had very personal reasons for wanting all Americans to think about freedom and the damage that racism can do.

In 1939 on the 19th of June, just days after she and her family had moved into a predominantly white neighbourhood in Fort Worth, Texas, their house was destroyed by a white mob. Opal was just 12. The family never spoke about the event again.

Opal went on to work as a teacher and counsellor in school, and then set up a food bank and later a farm to help those struggling to feed their families. She also organised local events to mark Juneteenth in Texas. In 2016, when she was 89, Opal came up with the idea to walk to Washington to ask the President to declare the day a national holiday. The campaign, and their petition, grew slowly at first and then a seismic event, the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, galvanised people and created a new sense of urgency to bring about change. Now armed with a petition complete with 1.5 million signatures, Opal's campaign was successful.

Opal Lee is now 98, she’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and she’s been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honour.

Archive used from CBS News

Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy and June Christie

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.0	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs, moments and movements.
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0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:36.1	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:40.7	Sometimes it takes a Texan grandmother to spur an American president into action.
0:47.9	President Biden is about to sign into law a bill creating a new federal holiday to honor
0:52.9	June teeth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. a bill creating a new federal holiday to honor June Teeth.
0:54.6	June Teeth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
1:00.2	And all in the presence of 94-year-old Opel Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth.
1:06.9	It was a big deal when then-president Joe Biden introduced a new national holiday for Americans in 2021.
1:14.3	It was the first since Martin Luther King Day had been announced nearly 40 years earlier.
1:19.9	Juneteenth is a significant day.
1:22.5	It marks the moment on June the 19th, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas learned that they were free
1:29.2	some months after the news had reached the rest of the United States.
1:34.1	It's long been a day of celebration and street parties in the lone star state,
1:39.0	but now Juneteenth was to become a national affair,
	...

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