Power of Partnership: Dr. Opal Lee and the Committee of One

Dr. Opal Lee, the 97-year-old activist and Texas native, is perhaps better known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth.” Although she is humble enough to tell you that she’s “just a little old lady in tennis shoes getting in everybody’s business,” Dr. Lee is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, a children’s book author, a retired teacher and a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., among many other titles.

In 2016, Dr. Lee became determined to see Juneteenth be named a federally recognized national holiday. At age 89, she decided to walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. to campaign for national recognition for the historic day. In 2021, President Biden declared Juneteenth a national holiday, and invited Dr. Lee to the White House to see it signed into law.

Now an annual 2.5-mile walk in honor of the 2.5 years it took for the news of freedom to reach the enslaved people in Texas, Dr. Lee continues to raise awareness and education for the significance of Juneteenth with Opal’s Walk for Freedom. This year, for the fourth year in a row, JCPenney associates walked alongside Dr. Lee in Dallas, Texas. Since 2022, 100% of net profits from the Hope & Wonder Juneteenth collection have been donated to Unity Unlimited, Inc., the sponsor of Opal’s Walk for Freedom. Unity Unlimited, Inc., founded in 2000 by Lee’s granddaughter Dione Sims, seeks to provided educational activities and resources to foster unity and harmony regardless of race and culture.

Dr. Lee has been so gracious with her time and attention to our associates over the years even as she continues to find herself busy with more projects like the National Juneteenth Museum project. Most recently, she and Sims visited our Home Office to meet associates and their children. Keep reading for our conversation on what motivated her to champion Juneteenth, the advice she would give her younger self and how to be a committee of one.

Marc Rosen: If an ally is just beginning to learn about Juneteenth, what would you want them to know?

Dr. Opal Lee: I always say that the Fourth of July freed the land, but Juneteenth freed the people. Freedom is for everybody – not just Texas people, not just Black people – but everybody. Everyone can show their support.

Dione Sims: Allies who want to help need only find a way to show their genuine concern and support, and one easy way to do that is to find out what Juneteenth celebrations are happening near them and to get involved. Organizers want all the help and support they can get from the whole community and will be glad to have you.

MR: What made Juneteenth a cause you wanted to pursue?

OL: I’d have to tell you about Dr. Ronald Myers, who was a medical doctor, a minister and a jazz musician all rolled into one. And Dr. Myers had gone all over the United States – 42 states, if not more – and he’s responsible for making Juneteenth a holiday or festival all over the country. Then there’s Ms. Lenora Rolla. The city of Fort Worth had asked her to gather all the materials written about the contributions Blacks had made to Fort Worth for its 175th birthday. She couldn’t find anything written, so she started the Tarrant Country Black Historical and Genealogical Society and Juneteenth was one of its programs. I can remember some Juneteenth celebrations when I was young where there were over 30,000 people celebrating late into the night for three days straight – and I wanted everyone to feel that sense of joy and unity.

We weren’t free on July 4, so I made it my mission to make sure everyone would celebrate freedom in this country from the 19th of June to the Fourth of July every year.

MR: You recently visited the JCPenney Home Office to address our associates directly. During the conversation, you challenged the audience to form a “committee of one.” Can you share what you mean by that sentiment?

OL: It only takes one person to change somebody’s mind. We all know someone who isn’t on the same page as us. It doesn’t happen in a day – you’re going to have to work at it – but if people have been taught to hate, they can be taught to love. It’s your responsibility to change minds so that our country will be the country that others emulate. We’ve got problems – so let’s solve them, together.

MR: You’ve lived your life in service of others for so long. Where does that commitment and motivation to give back to your community come from and what fuels you to continue?

OL: I wake up in the morning and somebody needs something. And if I can do anything about it, I will. I go to bed at night because there’s somebody I’ve got to see about something in the morning – and it’s been going on like this for years. I taught third grade for so long that I started acting like a third grader, so they gave me a new position as visiting teacher, and that’s when I saw children who didn’t have shoes, or clothes, or who came to school hungry. It was my responsibility to alleviate this situation, and I did. When I retired, it followed me – there were still people who needed clothes and food and places to stay. So, with a group, we started a food bank. There’s always more work to be done and more people who need help, and if I can help someone I always will.

MR: What do you want future generations to remember you by?

OL: I want people to remember that there’s so much that each of us can do, and so much that we can do together. We have to be able to get other people to understand that freedom is for everybody, and there’s still so much that needs to be done. So, to that end, we must work – not just for our families – but for our neighbors and our communities. I just know there’s so many good people – can you imagine what a wonderful world this would be if we all worked together? It’s your responsibility to make this the world that we have been taught that it can be.

MR: JCPenney has been a partner of Unity Unlimited, Inc. now for three years. Can you tell us about the work you all do through the organization? How has JCPenney’s partnership helped support Unity Unlimited, Inc’s. initiatives or mission?

DS: When I started Unity Unlimited in 2000, its goal was to give young people an opportunity to work together. In the early 90s, I saw a resurgence of division and hatred that I had not experienced in my own childhood. I thought that if people were going to be successful working with people of all backgrounds later in life, it needed to start early, so I started with programming to give young people of all different cultures and ethnicities a chance to work together during the summer. From there, we’ve grown so much. In 2014, I asked my grandmother – who was working so hard with her community efforts to raise awareness for Juneteenth – if I could help her. We moved Juneteenth under Unity Unlimited starting in 2015 and it fit so well with our mission, because Juneteenth is about letting everyone find themselves in the Juneteenth story.

When we started our partnership with JCPenney, it was so encouraging that corporate America saw the value of Juneteenth as not just a historical event, but also for its impact on our present and future. ?Having that support shows the nation that Juneteenth is for everybody. The impact and the reach of JCPenney has really helped us to put that message out there to the whole country and beyond, and we’re so appreciative for the funds that allow us to power our other programs throughout the year, like our community farm and Secret Santa program for grandparents raising grandchildren as their own.

MR: What piece of advice would you give your younger self?

OL: I’d tell my younger self that if you start something, be sure you finish it, especially if it’s something that will benefit you, your family and your community. Don’t quit – and there will be times when you will want to. There will be times when it’ll be awfully tiring. Your will have heartaches – but finish what you start.

MR: Do you have a favorite JCPenney memory you can share?

DS: My mother used to get her hair done in the JCPenney Salon. I remember wanting to be a model, dare I say! I remember looking at the mannequins and trying to style myself like them. That’s my earliest memory of JCPenney.

OL: JCPenney is the bomb! When I was young, anybody who is anybody got some clothes from JCPenney for the school year. And then at Christmas time, my mom would send me to get things for my brothers from Penney’s and she would send them to get my stuff. JCPenney has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

JCPenney recently helped to furnish Dr. Lee’s brand-new home in Fort Worth, Texas, on the very same property where her family home once stood 85 years ago before they were driven out by an angry mob. Watch the video below for a behind-the-scenes look at JCPenney’s involvement in this historic homecoming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6fcvW3J_dc&t=1s