
Opal Lee's 99-year march to a nationwide Juneteenth
Opal Lee, the activist behind Juneteenth's national recognition, spent a lifetime turning local celebration into a national movement—walking 2.5 miles a day from Fort Worth to D.C. to symbolize the delay, gathering signatures that helped spark Juneteenth's 2021 federal holiday status, and sharing her journey in A Committee of One, a memoir/self-help book that frames freedom as a daily practice and calls for expanding Juneteenth celebrations beyond June 19.









