In 2016, at the age of 89, Opal Lee walked from his Fort Worth home to Washington, DC to help Juneteenth celebrate a federal holiday. This is finally 2021. And for nearly 20 years, she’s a property on Rosedale Street, which was also used as a location for the 2020 movie “Miss Juneteenth.”
But now at the age of 95, Lee, known as “Juneteenth’s Grandmother,” or more lovingly “Miz. Opal,” — a more permanent institution commemorating the holiday celebrating the end of US slavery. I was hoping for.
The vision becomes reality as plans for the National Juneteenth Museum, a $ 70 million project aimed at putting the shovel on the ground by the end of the year and opening it in time for the 2024 Juneteenth vacation. Is approaching.
A 50,000 square foot museum designed by an architectural firm Bjarke Ingels GroupOr BIG investigates the events surrounding June 19, 1865, published by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. General Order No. 3, Tells the people of the state that “all slaves are free,” according to the Emancipation Proclamation. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified a few months later, abolished slavery in the last four border states, which had not been ordered by President Abraham Lincoln.
“The plan is beautiful. It’s off the chain,” Lee said in an interview. “Juneteenth means freedom to me. We want people to understand the past.
Lee added that museums with important educational elements would also help ensure that the country “does not re-initiate” slavery. Nomination For the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. “And if we’re happy, that’s possible.”
In the project, The corner of Rosedale Street and Evans Avenue Fort Worth is working to revitalize the surrounding area, which declined in the 1960s after being divided by the I-35W highway.2019 survey conducted by a data company MySidewalk The median household income in the region is about $ 26,000, indicating that one-third of residents live below federal poverty levels.
Development includes a business incubator that promotes black entrepreneurship, a food hall serving culturally black dishes from local vendors, flexible performance spaces, and theaters.
Jarred Howard, a project developer and executive at Sable Brands in the marketing group, said: “For most of the last three decades or so, the neighborhood has been devastated and poor. This development will catalyze its recovery in economic and cultural health.”
Howard added that the project hopes to fix the “black commerce corridor” and attract other new businesses to the region.The city has already developed $ 13.2 million Evans & Rosedale Urban Village Just north of the museum grounds, there are apartments and townhouses.
“For decades, Juneteenth has been part of the structure of our city,” said the mayor of Fort Worth. Matty ParkerSaid in statement In 2021, “And this museum is a welcome addition to its incredible heritage.”
Museums have traditionally been funded by personal donations from individuals, businesses and foundations. We are also seeking government support. The goal is to provide free admission, undertaken by the revenue-generating aspects of financing and multipurpose development.
According to Howard, the museum initially forecasts 35,000 attendees annually, an increase of 10 percent each year.
The building will be designed in collaboration with local architect KAI, a minority shareholder, using materials such as heavy wood and utilizing the local architecture of the gable roof and protruding porch. Douglas Aligood, BIG partner in charge of the project, said it “has handmade quality” and added that he wants the building to convey “spiritual uplifting” following Lee’s example.
“She wanted to make sure the story was told, and we wanted to pay homage to the people we turned our backs on,” Arigood said. “It’s not about her, it’s about our ancestors.”
Alligood said the project had a special response for him as a black architect. “This kind of project in the African-American community, which focuses on African-American culture, is a unique opportunity in my career,” he said. “The historic South Side was prosperous before the highway passed and was split in half. I don’t think one building will solve everything or change history, This gives us the opportunity to provide information in a really important way. “
Galveston is the Texas location most relevant to Juneteenth, but “the story of the country is what we want to focus on,” said Dione, Lee’s granddaughter and founding managing director of the museum. Sims said.
The museum tells a broad story of liberation and focuses on allies like the Quakers who helped the shepherds to northern freedom. White and Black Abolitionist Society; Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico.Numbers like Sam HoustonAs President of the Republic of Texas in 1837, outlawed the illegal import of slaves into Texas.
“It’s a holiday for everyone, because everyone can find themselves in the Juneteenth story,” Sims said. “That is the mission and goal of the National Juneteenth Museum.”
Lee was 2.5 miles daily in 2016 to symbolize the two and a half years between the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation and the arrival of a message on the Texans’ still enslaved Galveston on June 19, 1865. I traveled.
In 2020 she started Change.org A petition that collected over 1.5 million signatures she submitted to Congress. She was honored at the White House in 2021 when President Biden signed a bill designating a new holiday.
“I can’t really talk about the history of the country,” she said. “I can’t really talk about what is still pervasive in our cultural and national stories that are affecting many lives today: systematic racism rooted in slavery. Freedom from slavery, or liberation of the human spirit, will help us to elevate. “
