In 2016, when she was 89 years old, a Texan named Opal Lee set out on a 1,440-mile trek from her home in Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. She walked two and a half miles each day to symbolize the two and a half years that Black Texans waited between when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed abolishing slavery in Confederate states on Jan. 1, 1863, and the day that message arrived in Galveston, where Black people were still enslaved. The walk was part of a years-long campaign to bring national recognition to a holiday celebrated for decades by Black Americans. As she later remarked, "I was thinking that surely, somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress, and notice."
Opal's campaign was deeply personal. At just 12 years old, she saw her family home in a predominantly white neighborhood of Fort Worth burned to the ground by a mob of 500 white rioters, with little resistance from the police department. The date of the crime was June 19, 1939 - 74 years to the day after the last enslaved Americans learned of their freedom. The juxtaposition of such a violent, hateful act taking place on a day meant to celebrate freedom and progress stuck with her. It inspired her years-long, ultimately successful campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday - and won her the title of "Grandmother of Juneteenth."
Opal envisaged Juneteenth as a day of unity - one where Americans from all backgrounds would come together in support of freedom for all. President Biden echoed this sentiment just last month when he awarded Opal the Presidential Medal of Freedom - two years after signing the Bill that officially made Juneteenth the 11th federal holiday. "Juneteenth is a day of profound, profound weight and power to remember the original sin of slavery," President Biden said as he presented the medal, "and the extraordinary capacity to emerge from the most painful moments with a better vision of ourselves."
At USAID, we continue to work toward that better vision - in part by taking on the continuing threat of human trafficking, which keeps millions trapped in modern-day slavery. Today as many as 25 million people globally are still trafficked and exploited for labor: 70 percent of victims are women; 50 percent are children. USAID has supported efforts to combat human trafficking and modern-day slavery in more than 80 countries by offering counseling and safe harbor for trafficking survivors working to reintegrate into their communities; working with local governments to provide legal services for survivors; and training members of the judiciary, law enforcement, and trafficking tribunals to handle trafficking cases more quickly, effectively, and sensitively.
This month, Opal plans to return to that corner in Fort Worth where her family's house was burned down 85 years ago, where there now stands a new bungalow, built with love by Habitat for Humanity and members of her own community. She is continuing her work to push for change. As she put it, "There are so many disparities - joblessness and homelessness, and healthcare that some of us can get and others can't… But I'm going to keep on walking and talking, and maybe someone will listen."
