Stephen Montoya
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of moving into a brand-new home, especially if said home is built on the site of a childhood memory not easily forgotten. This was the exact occasion that civil rights activist Opal Lee found herself in on June 14 as she sat down on the front porch of her newly built home at 940 East Annie Street in Fort Worth. This site doesn’t just mark the spot where Lee’s new home is, it also marks the spot where Lee once lived as a child.
This full-circle reunion of sorts is a bittersweet one for the now 97-year-old “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” who was ousted from her home along with her family on June 19, 1939. Gone now is the angry mob that once set fire to her family home. In the mob’s place were news reporters, members of Trinity Habitat for Humanity, and several of Lee’s loved ones and supporters.
The way Lee tells it, she was always on the lookout for the owner of the property at 940 E. Annie Street in the hopes that she might buy it back and make it the home her parents dreamed of.
“We had only been here for five days and my mom had the house fixed up so nice,” Lee says while sitting a white rocking chair on her new front porch. “I remember it was the 19th of June when it happened.”
Call this irony, call it serendipity, call it what you will, but the month of June seems to have a sort of power over Lee, who is best known for walking from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. to get Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday. After her walk in 2016, President Joe Biden signed the legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. Before Lee ever made a step towards D.C. for this very reason, Juneteenth was celebrated by the Black community as a commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S.
Records indicate that a group of Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, in June of 1865 with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official on January 1, 1863. Since then, in Texas, African Americans and history fans alike have been commemorating, in one shape or form, this date. Juneteenth became a Texas holiday in 1980.
Stephen Montoya
Back on East Annie Street, Lee is at the center of everyone’s attention, however, she hasn’t seen the inside of her new home yet. Waiting outside of her newly sodded yard was Gage Yager, CEO of Trinity Habitat for Humanity. Yager represents one of the many supporters who helped find resources for Lee’s new home like Texas Capital Bank, and HistoryMaker Homes.
“We did a groundbreaking for Opal’s home back in October, but we didn't have any partners and we didn't know how we're going to get it done,” Yager says. “We were stepping out on faith.”
To help fill in the gaps, Texas Capital Bank paid for the furnishings in Lee’s new home. To avoid an anti-donation clause, THFH sold Lee the lot her home sits on for $10, then HistoryMaker Homes took on the lion’s share of building the actual structure.
“They did it quick. It's high quality, and so it's manna from heaven,” Yager says.
Lee’s new 1,700 square foot home has three bedrooms and two baths along with many new amenities like a walk-in tub, her very own library area, and some furnishings she used to have in her old home, only upgraded a bit.
“Team members were able to take an old sofa and chair that were in her old home that were threadbare and reupholster them,” he says. “According to one family member she was upset to see those go. So, it'll be fun to see if she even recognizes the furniture and just see her reaction when she walks in.”
Back on the porch Lee is all smiles as she welcomes everyone to experience her home at the same time she does. Lee even has a plan of action although she hadn’t walk through the doors of her new abode yet.
“I dream about meeting the new neighbors and inviting them into a housewarming so I could get to know them all,” she says. “This is just a dream come true for me and I’m so excited.”
