Opal Lee, ‘grandmother of Juneteenth,’ gets Texas portrait

By ACACIA CORONADO
Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas woman who helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday has become the second Black Texan honored with a portrait on the walls of the state’s Senate chamber. Known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal Lee, 96, who is from Fort Worth, joined President Joe Biden in 2021 to sign a law commemorating June 19 as the day that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news of the end of slavery. Lee joins the late Texas Senator and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who was the first Black Texan recognized with a portrait in the Senate in 1973.