Fort Worth ‘showed out’ for Juneteenth walk as Opal Lee attends virtually
While Opal Lee was sorely missed at her annual Juneteenth walk, her spirit was felt in the hundreds of people that participated in the annual Fort Worth event.
Lee watched the walk from home on Thursday at the advice of her doctor, her granddaughter Dione Sims said. This comes after Lee was hospitalized last month in Ohio, where she was honored with the International Freedom Conductor Award at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
The original plan was for Lee to ride in her son’s truck ahead of the group, but Sims said she got a call early Thursday saying that the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” was staying home.
Sims said that Lee was in good spirits and felt fine, but the reality is that she is 98 years old.
“I knew this day would come, but I’ve not wanted it to come,” Sims said. “I was talking to [Lee] Monday and she told me, ‘You got it. Just keep it going’.”
Opal Lee’s Walk for Freedom
The walk, which started in 2016, was held to lobby for having Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. Since it became a holiday in 2021, the mission has shifted to educating people nationally about Juneteenth and its focus on freedom.
This year’s walk began at 9 a.m. on Foch Street next to Farrington Field’s parking lot. Hundreds of people gathered in white and purple shirts, carrying signs and cheering each other on during the 2.5 mile walk.
The distance of the walk symbolizes the two and a half years it took for enslaved people in Texas to realize they had been freed. On Juneteenth in 2020, Lee, a social activist and retired teacher, walked 2.5 miles from the Fort Worth Convention Center down Lancaster to the Will Rogers Auditorium.
While it was bittersweet to not have Lee at Thursday’s walk, Sims said she’s grateful to those who showed up on this day of freedom.
“I wondered if you guys would come out without her being here,” Sims said fighting back tears. “You showed out.”
A community united
Dallas resident Raina Smothers came to the walk because of Lee’s pursuit to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
Smothers said the recognition means a lot, especially knowing her own family’s history and how they struggled in the past. She carries with her their story and hopes future generations also remember where they come from.
“You feel like if your in bondage, you need to stay there, but bondage is not permanent,” Smothers said. “It’s the way your mindset is and the way you decide to strive for success.”
Ommie Cotton of Denton came to the Juneteenth walk with a group of 20.
She said her group came to celebrate the day, since this recognition means that Black people do exist and contribute to the fabric of society. The Black community built this country, but have not always been recognized for it.
“This is an occasion to recognize that we are Americans,” Cotton said.
More on Juneteenth walk
In addition to Fort Worth, Tokyo and Los Angeles both held walks to coincide with Lee’s Walk for Freedom this year.
Juneteenth had long been commemorated in Texas; it became a state holiday in 1980. In Fort Worth, more than 30,000 people celebrated Juneteenth in 1975 in Sycamore Park.
In 2016, Lee began her campaign for the national holiday with a symbolic walk to Washington, D.C. Lee was 89 at the time and crossed over 14 states and 1,400 miles. She relaunched the campaign in 2019, crossing over seven states until the next year when COVID-19 cut the trip short.
Lee was in attendance when on June 21, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a federal bill that nationally recognized the holiday.
Next year’s walk will take place in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Sims said that she, and hopefully Lee, will be there side-by-side in the nation’s capitol.
Staff writer Kamal Morgan contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM.
