Fort Worth, TX will soon be home to the new National Juneteenth Museum, according to Click 2 Houston. Scheduled to begin being built on Rosedale Street in the city’s Southside neighborhood in spring of 2022, and slated to open in 2023, the museum will tell the history of Juneteenth.
It will be built at the site where a similar museum currently sits, one which, for over 20 years, has been operated by Opal Lee, a 95-year-old activist who has long been a staunch advocate for the recognition of Juneteenth as an official federal holiday.
Nicknamed the Grandmother of Juneteenth, Lee is known for having walked across the country, from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in support of her goal. Traversing 2.5 miles a day, she sought to commemorate the 2.5 years it took for Black people in Texas to be made aware that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, officially granting them their freedom from the institution of slavery.
Earlier this year, Lee stood with President Joe Biden as he officially made Juneteenth, June 19, a United States federal holiday. Now she is spearheading the operation to build the new museum, which will also include input and leadership from various other historians, activists, and researchers.
“To have lived long enough to see my walking and talking make an impact is one thing,” said Lee, “but to know that a state-of-the-art museum that will house the actual pen that President Biden used to sign the bill, and many other exhibits, is coming to pass as well — I could do my holy dance again.”
“Oh I’m ecstatic. This new museum is going to be the talk of the town. Not just the town, the whole cotton picking state. You wait and see,” Lee said to NBC.
Related: Nacimiento De Los Negros: The Afro-Mexican Town That Celebrates Juneteenth