Opal Lee, 'grandmother of Juneteenth,' reads to Peterson students

For decades, Opal Lee has taught and influenced everyone from young children to presidents. On Tuesday, Peterson Elementary School students had the opportunity to hear from Ms. Lee just a few months before a new federal holiday she helped establish.

Ms. Lee read to students as part of Peterson’s 100 Days of Reading event, celebrating literacy throughout the school year. Students heard Ms. Lee read “Juneteenth: A Children’s Story,” a book she wrote regarding the creation of Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Because of her relentless decades-long advocacy to make the date a federal holiday, Ms. Lee is widely known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth.”

In 2021, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which then overwhelmingly passed in the U.S. House of Representatives before President Joe Biden signed the bill into law.

“Over the course of decades, she’s made it her mission to see that this day came,” President Biden remarked about Ms. Lee during the signing ceremony of the bill. “She’s walked for miles and miles, literally and figuratively, to bring attention to Juneteenth – to make this day possible.”

When she arrived at Peterson, students surprised Ms. Lee with a banner welcoming her to the school, with two students then serving as guides through the building. When she began reading her children’s book, every student in the school sat and listened attentively. Pictures of the book were displayed on a projector so students could easily see the illustrations.

Ms. Lee answered questions from students following the reading, explaining why Juneteenth means so much to her and why she’s excited for the new federal holiday.

“I started thinking about all the young children I know, and I wanted them to really know about Juneteenth and the truth,” explained Ms. Lee, a retired Fort Worth ISD educator. “When people know the truth, even if it’s not good, they can heal from it and think to do something that is positive. I thought young children who read the book and grow up can ensure the United States is the best country in the world.”

Though not an official national holiday until 2021, the first celebration of Juneteenth began in 1866. The date commemorates news of the Emancipation Proclamation making its way to Texas on June 19, 1865, ending one of the last significant slavery holdouts.

For Ms. Lee, commemorating Juneteenth serves to ensure Americans work together as one to maintain equality among all people.

“Each of us should make ourselves a committee of one to change the minds of people – someone you know who is not on the same page you are on,” she said. “It’s not going to happen in day or two or in a week, but we must have people who understand that freedom is for everyone.”