Stephen Montoya
If Opal Lee was planning on putting all of her trophies and accolades into one room in her new home, still under construction on the east side of Fort Worth, it might already need an expansion.
In a little over a week, SMU will grace the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” with her eighth honorary degree, a Doctor of Humane Letters.
On Friday, Lee was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lee was one of 19 recipients who received the highest honor a U.S. civilian can receive during a ceremony at the White House. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is presented to those individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
“These 19 Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better,” the White House said in a release. “They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.”
Lee, 97, a teacher, social worker, and community organizer, is no stranger to the White House. She was the special guest of President Joe Biden for the signing of the bill recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021.
Now that Lee’s childhood home is being rebuilt over 80 years later on the same spot where it was burned to the ground by a mob, she seems to be reaping the rewards of a life well spent. In fact, she helped raise the first wall of her new abode at 940 E. Annie Street on March 21.
Lee is looking forward to the construction of a new 50,000-square-foot Juneteenth Museum set to be at the 900 block of East Rosedale Street, just down the road from her rebuilt family home.
Some of Lee’s other accolades include 2021 Texan of the Year, as named by the Dallas Morning News editorial board, Fort Worth Inc.’s 2022 Person of the Year, and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In 2023, she became the second African American to be honored with a portrait in the Texas State Senate chamber.
Other recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom included:
- Clarence B. Jones - a civil rights activist and lawyer, who represented Martin Luther King, Jr. He also helped write King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
- Michael Bloomberg - a philanthropist and former mayor of New York City, who founded Bloomberg L.P.
- James Clyburn - a congressional representative from South Carolina and retired educator, who has been in Democratic leadership since 2003. He has represented southern and eastern South Carolina in Congress since 1993.
- Al Gore - a former Democratic presidential candidate and vice president under President Bill Clinton.
- John Kerry - a politician and diplomat, who served as secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s administration. He also served as a climate envoy for Biden.
- Nancy Pelosi - the first and only woman elected speaker of the House and current representative from California.
- Elizabeth Dole - a lawyer and politician, who served as a senator representing the state of North Carolina. She is also the wife of the late Kansas Sen. Bob Dole.
- Medgar Evers - a civil rights activist, who served as the NAACP’s first field officer in Mississippi. He was assassinated in his driveway in 1963 at 37.
- Michelle Yeoh - an award-winning actress from Malaysia, who is best known for her roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once and Crazy Rich Asians.
- Jim Thorpe - an Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was the first Native American to win a gold medal.
- Judy Shepard - a mother and LGBTQ+ rights activist, who founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation after her gay son, who was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyoming.
- Frank Lautenberg - a former senator from New York and businessperson, who died in 2013.
- Gregory Boyle - a Jesuit Catholic priest who founded the world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program—Homeboy Industries.
- Phil Donahue - a media personality who hosted the first TV talk show to feature audience participation.
- Katie Ledecky - an Olympian, and the most decorated female swimmer in history.
- Ellen Ochoa - a former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center, who was the first Hispanic woman in space.
- Jane Rigby - an astrophysicist known for her work on the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Teresa Romero - the president of the United Farm Workers. She is the first Hispanic woman to lead the union.
