Opal Lee Walks Juneteenth to Victory Marshall-Born Activist Asks for Freedom for Everyone
By Lisa Tang As a child in Marshall, Texas, Opal Lee loved the playful joys of an elaborate annual summer community picnic at a local park. The older relatives called it “Juneteenth,” commemorating freedom for enslaved people. When she was 10 years old, Lee’s family moved to Fort Worth. Just two years later, she learned the harsh realities of racism firsthand as rioters vandalized and set fire to her home. Born October 7, 1926, to Mattie and Otis Flake, Lee’s childhood memories set the foundation for what became her lifetime mission to advocate for “freedom for everyone.” In Marshall, with her parents, two brothers, and extended family, the community picnics were happy times with food, competitions, and festivities.
“There’d be music and food; there’d be speeches and food; there’d be games, baseball and food and food and food. Oh, we had a good time, oh we did,” Lee says. Things got hard on the family during the Depression when Lee’s father lost his job. He departed for Fort Worth to look for work but never sent for his family. Finding it hard to make ends meet in rural East Texas, Lee’s mother sold everything they had and bought train tickets to Fort Worth for herself and her children. Her parents eventually reunited and bought a house. Lee hoped for fun summer picnics in their new town, but things were different there than in Marshall. “When we came to Fort Worth, not so many people celebrated,” she says. Lee slows the pace of her speech as she
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tells about her most tragic childhood memory that happened at her family’s home. “Our house was in a neighborhood where we weren’t wanted,” she says of the mostly Anglo-inhabited area. “On June 19, 1939, about 500 folk gathered — the newspaper said — and the police couldn’t control the mob and while my dad came with a gun the police told him if he ‘busted a cap’ they’d let the mob have us.” The family escaped with their lives, but the mob destroyed their possessions. “The people drug furniture out and burned stuff. They really messed the place up. Our parents never, ever discussed it with us and they worked and they bought another home,” Lee says. Starting over in a different neighborhood, Lee’s struggles continued.
