PHILADELPHIA, PA, March 4. 2023—The Philadelphia Juneteenth Family kicked off the Juneteenth festivities on Sunday, June 4, 2023, with a reception to welcome Dr. Opal Lee to the City of Philadelphia. Dr. Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” is the 2023 Juneteenth Flag-raising guest of honor and keynote speaker. She is credited with being one of the major forces in making Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday.
Dr. Lee, who lives in Texas, campaigned for decades to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. She promoted the idea by leading a 2.5-mile walk each year, representing the 2.5 years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. At the age of 89, she conducted a symbolic walk starting in Fort Worth, Texas, in September 2016 to Washington, D.C., where she arrived in January 2017. She was hoping to plead the case for a federal holiday directly to now-former President Barack Obama.
Dr. Opal Lee has not only marched in Texas. She has also marched in many other states, including Fort Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Atlanta, Georgia; Selma, Alabama; and the Carolinas. She promoted a petition for a Juneteenth federal holiday at Change.org; the petition received 1.6 million signatures.
In June 2021, at the age of 94, her efforts succeeded as a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021, making Juneteenth a national holiday that will be celebrated every year on June 19.
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and…
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