The piece of property where Opal Lee, a 97-year-old Black Texas teacher and prominent figure in the Juneteenth celebration, was once driven out by a racist mob in 1939, has been gifted to her.
When Lee was twelve years old, his family moved into an all-White neighborhood in Fort Worth. A week later, a hostile throng of 500 people drove the family out, and the police were there but did nothing.
Lee now intends to construct a new home on the same plot of land, close to 85 years later. Lee, a devoted community leader and retired teacher, described the horrific events and claimed that a racist mob attacked the family with violence. “They tore their home asunder,” she said to CBS. They light things on fire. They committed heinous crimes.
The family’s dream was dashed, she claimed. According to the Daily Mail, they had planned for the house to be the family’s pride and the greatest abode they had in Fort Worth.
“We were frightened to death when our parents sent us away from the house. To come back later to see it in shambles was traumatic,” she added.
Lee decided to recover the property where her family’s home formerly stood after more than 80 years. She discovered that the vacant property belonged to the local branch of Habitat for Humanity, which she had previously served on the founding board of, after getting in touch with the current owner.
Lee, who has been friends with Trinity Habitat for Humanity CEO Gage Yager for a long time, revealed the background of her family’s relocation and said she wanted to buy the property.
Trinity Habitat for Humanity CEO informed Lee that she couldn’t buy the land but insisted on gifting it to her. He recounted that “I said, ‘Well, we won’t sell it to you Opal, but we’ll give it to you. There’s no option for anything else.”
In addition to giving Lee the land, Yager promised to work with contributors to build a new home on the site in time for the activist’s 99th birthday. Lee, who was thrilled to hear the news, expressed her wish to perform a “holy dance,” but she is unable to since the younger generation refers to it as “twerking.”
She shared her optimism and faith, basing her hope on the conviction that God will grant her whatever she asks him to.
The group has started the house’s design phase, using donations from the community to finance the project and depending on volunteers to help with construction.
Yager said: “We’re there to partner with a friend to build a home and in a little way erase a big negative from all those years ago.
“How can it not be, with all the hate and violence that’s been out there … to play a small part in a bigger story and hopefully a narrative that’s going in a good direction.”
When Lee retired in 1977, she committed her entire life to advocacy. She started a 1,400-mile walk in 2016 to protest the Obama administration’s decision to make June 19th a national holiday from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C.
Her efforts paid off in June 2021 when President Joe Biden proclaimed Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the United States after 155 years, a federal holiday.
Known by several titles during its yearly celebrations, including Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day, Juneteenth has been dubbed America’s “second independence day” since 1865.