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#opallee — Public Fediverse posts

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  1. Today is #Juneteenth, the US-American federal holiday commemorating and celebrating June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had freed them 2 1/2 years earlier.

    Former slaves celebrated this day as early as 1866. From September 2016 to January 2017, activist #OpalLee, then age 89, walked from Ft. Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C, as part of her ultimately successful campaign to get Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday.

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  2. Throughout her life and advocacy work, Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth, has embodied the fight for freedom. nonprofitquarterly.org/junetee

    #OpalLee #freedom #Juneteenth

  3. "96-year-old Opal Lee has spent decades walking and advocating for the date marking actual emancipation to be recognized as a national holiday. And this is the third year June 19 is a federal holiday. Lee was part of the celebration at the White House last week marking the holiday."

    Opal Lee—Grandmother of Juneteenth—96 & Still Walking for Equality

    wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/06/19 via WBUR
    Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty via WBUR
    #OpalLee #Juneteenth

  4. In 2021, President Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday and credited Opal Lee, now 96, as the "grandmother of the movement." Texas Monthly talked to her about her activism, the history of her famous 1,400-mile walk, and how she'll be celebrating Juneteenth this year.

    texasmonthly.com/the-culture/o

    #OpalLee #Juneteenth #Activism

  5. Meet Opal Lee, ‘grandmother of Juneteenth’ share.america.gov/meet-opal-le

    The federal holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, signed earlier by President Abraham Lincoln, which freed enslaved people. (After the U.S. Civil War ended, Texas was the last former Confederate state to recognize emancipation.)

    #Juneteenth #OpalLee