Opal Lee turned 100 today — and vowed to ‘keep on walking’

In Fort Worth, Texas, the woman they call the grandmother of Juneteenth blew out 100 candles at the future home of the National Juneteenth Museum, where neighbors and local leaders sang her happy birthday. At 89, Opal Lee walked from Texas to Washington, D.C. — two and a half miles at a time — gathering 1.5 million petition signatures in the campaign that helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021. The museum has raised $55 million of its $70 million goal. Her birthday promise: ‘I’m going to keep on walking... and keep on talking.’