Crystal Wise/Fort Worth Magazine
Opal Lee
At 97-years-young, Opal Lee is more active than most people half her age. In March, she helped raise the first wall of her new home at 940 E. Annie Street, the very spot where an angry mob burned her family home down because of the color of their skin nearly 80 years before. To add to that, Lee has also been busy spreading the word and trying to find funding for the new Juneteenth Museum, to be built on Fort Worth’s south east side of town.
Add to this, her legendary walk from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. in 2016 and her years as an educator and you get the notion that Lee isn’t one to stand idle for too long. After all, her dedication has always paid off, even if not right away. In fact, Lee got President Joe Biden to sign the legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday on June 17, in 2021, five years after her long walk.
Talk about persistence.
Currently, Lee is prepping to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from SMU at the University’s May 11 commencement ceremony. This honorary degree marks number eight for the social activist. Lee’s degree will be presented to her at commencement, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 11, in Moody Coliseum at 3009 Binkley Avenue.
Two days before this, Lee will also participate in a free symposium with her granddaughter, Dione Sims, founding executive director of the National Juneteenth Museum, at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at SMU’s Moody Hall auditorium at 6404 Airline Road. This symposium will focus on Lee’s achievements as Candice Lucas-Bledsoe, director of the Action Research Center in Dallas and SMU Cox Executive Education facilitator, moderates the discussion.
With Juneteenth now an official federal Holiday, Lee has another mission, to open the new $70 million, 50,000-square-foot Juneteenth Museum at the 900 block of East Rosedale Street. Lee is also the honorary chair of the museum, along with her granddaughter, who is a legacy board member.
Other titles Lee has accrued over the years include serving on the boards of Unity Unlimited, Citizens Concerned with Human Dignity, Habitat for Humanity, the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society and chaired the board of the Community Food Bank of Fort Worth. She was also named 2021 Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News editorial board, Fort Worth Inc.’s 2022 Person of the Year and was 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.
“Having Ms. Lee join us at commencement and share her work through a symposium is a signal honor for our University,” said SMU president R. Gerald Turner. “Her life’s work is most deserving of this recognition, and our students will be inspired by her.”
