Texans commemorate Juneteenth by walking alongside Opal Lee

AUSTIN, Texas – On Monday, June 19, 96-year-old Opal Lee once again laced up her tennis shoes for Opal’s Walk for Freedom.

Around the country, walks were held in solidarity to commemorate Juneteenth. A walk in Austin was organized by Teria Broadous, Opal Lee’s cousin. 

“If a 96-year-old woman can be in the heat walking for 2.5 miles, I definitely can do it,” said Broadous.

The group walked from 12th Street and San Jacinto to and around the Capitol. In February, Lee’s portrait was put up in the Senate chamber.

Known as the ‘grandmother of Juneteenth,’ Lee spent years campaigning to make it a federal holiday. She would lead 2.5-mile walks each year to represent the two-and-a-half years it took for slaves in Texas to be told they were free.

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In 2016, she embarked on a months-long walk from Texas to Washington D.C. 

“It’s each one, teach one,” said Maya Thomas, who participated in the local walk on Monday. “What you know, and what I don’t know, let’s encourage each other and talk to each other. And that’s what happened in 1865. It was like, ‘Hey, guys, we’ve been free for two years,’ can you imagine that?”

On June 19, 1865, an order issued in Galveston enforced the Emancipation Proclamation that had been signed previously.

Decades later, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. It became a federal holiday in 2021.