Juneteenth activist receives presidential award

WASHINGTON – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Opal Lee, the 97-year-old “grandmother of Juneteenth,” received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on Friday. President Joe Biden named Lee as one of 19 recipients of the award, which is the nation’s highest civilian honor. “These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better,” a White House news release said. “They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.” Lee, who moved to Fort Worth when she was 10, symbolically walked 1,400 miles from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in 2016 to raise awareness of the importance of Juneteenth. She attended the signing ceremony at the White House in 2021 when Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday.