The publication is reproduced in full below:
PROCLAMATION TO HONOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OPAL LEE
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HON. MARC A. VEASEY
of texas
in the house of representatives
Friday, July 9, 2021
Mr. VEASEY. Madam Speaker, few can be heralded as being the impetus for one of this country's national holidays. Fort Worth's own Opal Lee is one such person. It is not an overstatement to say that without Opal Lee, June 19 would not have been made a national holiday. Juneteenth, as it is known, now is. Invited by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Opal Lee stood next to him in the White House on June 17 as the President signed into law the legislation making June 19 a Federal holiday; and she's been jetting, literally, around the country ever since to be recognized for this monumental achievement.
Opal Lee has committed much of her life to celebrating June 19, the day in 1865, when Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the war had ended and that enslaved Africans were now free. Quoting from General Orders Number 3, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger announced that ``[t]he people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. . . .''
Opal Lee has been the face of Juneteenth in Fort Worth for decades. By the early 2000s, she began advocating for making Juneteenth a national holiday. And in 2016, at age 90, she started a walking campaign across the Nation to bring attention to and awareness of the need for a National Day of Observance for Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.
Opal Lee is a graduate of the Historic I.M. Terrell High School, class of 1943. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953, from Wiley College, now Wiley University. She returned to Fort Worth to teach at Amanda McCoy Elementary School for 15 years, where she was regarded as one of the best educators in her field. She later obtained her master's degree in Counseling and Guidance from North Texas State University, now University of North Texas, and served as Home/School Counselor for Fort Worth Independent School District until her retirement in 1977.
With Lenora Rolla, another of Fort Worth's legendary icons and treasures, as its inspiration, Opal Lee, along with 19 other charter members, founded the Tarrant County Black Historical & Genealogical Society in the 1970s. The Tarrant County Black Historical & Genealogical Society is dedicated to archiving and preserving the historical contributions of Fort Worth and Tarrant County's Black citizens to be able to educate and empower future generations through art, history, and culture.
Opal Lee's long and varied service to Fort Worth also includes serving on the Historic & Cultural Landmarks Commission, AIDS Outreach committee, Evans Avenue Business Association, and Riverside Neighborhood Advisory Council, among many others. For more than 30 years, Lee has served as Precinct Chair for District 8. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, lncorporated; the Grandmother's Club; the Ethel Ransom Humanitarian & Cultural Club and remains an active member of Baker Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she serves as a Missionary, church school teacher, assistant teacher and Deaconess. That is why I am honored to have her as my constituent in Texas' 33rd District, and proud to honor her as a Civil Rights leader for North Texas.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 120
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