Civil rights activist Dr. Opal Lee celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 7, 2026, as the site for the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth underwent ceremonial demolition to make way for construction. During the milestone event, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a $3 million commitment to support the museum's development, bringing the project's total funding to $55 million toward a $70 million goal.
A Milestone for Dr. Opal Lee
The "Clearing the Way" ceremony, held Wednesday morning, marked the start of demolition at the Southside Community Center on Rosedale Street in Fort Worth's Historic Southside. The site will host the 50,000-square-foot facility, which project leaders say is designed to honor the history of Juneteenth while serving as an economic catalyst for the neighborhood.
The celebration coincided with Lee's centennial birthday, a milestone supporters say reflects her decades of perseverance and her role in securing national recognition for Juneteenth. Lee, widely known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," has been a central figure in the movement to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, which President Joe Biden signed into law in June 2021.
"For Dr. Opal Lee, this isn't just a birthday celebration. It's the realization of a vision she has worked toward for years," the museum said in a statement. The project serves as a tribute to Lee's advocacy, including her longtime Walk for Freedom campaign and her efforts to highlight the significance of June 19, 1865, when news of emancipation finally reached enslaved Black Americans in Texas.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced its $3 million donation during the event, which was attended by museum leaders and community organizations. Elder Michael A. Dunn, President of the Church’s United States Southwest Area, joined the gathering to discuss the collaboration, which grew from long-standing relationships, including Lee's 2022 visit to Church headquarters in Utah.
"The National Juneteenth Museum is going to allow us to really help people everywhere understand what Dr. Lee has represented — her tenacity, her verve, her unrelenting quest to be able to bring truth and light to this story of our nation that still needs to be told," Elder Dunn said.
Dr. Lee responded to the donation during her remarks, stating, "This deed won't go unnoticed. It'll be where everybody can see how much you appreciated what we are doing in this community — and this is everybody's contribution."
A major feature of the new museum will be a genealogy center intended to help visitors discover and preserve family histories. The facility aims to provide specialized resources for African American families to trace and document records that have historically been difficult to access.
State Sen. Taylor Rehmet noted that the museum is expected to house the largest repository in the world of African American family records. "Generations of Americans will come to this block to encounter the whole story," Rehmet told those gathered. "There is nothing unpatriotic about telling the truth about America. Real patriotism is believing that this country is strong enough to face its history."
The museum is planned for the intersection of East Rosedale Street and New York Avenue in Fort Worth's Historic Southside, an area that was once a thriving center of Black business and culture, sometimes referred to as the "Black Wall Street of the South." The neighborhood's decline followed the construction of Interstate 35W in the 1960s, which divided the community.
While the museum aims to honor history, it also focuses on workforce development, entrepreneurship, and professional advancement. The City of Fort Worth has pledged up to $15 million toward the construction of the facility, which organizers estimate could attract approximately 35,000 visitors annually.
Lee's advocacy is rooted in personal experience. She was 12 years old when a white mob gathered outside her family's home on Annie Street in Fort Worth on June 19, eventually storming inside and torching furniture, forcing her family to flee. This trauma influenced her career as a public school teacher and her subsequent decades of activism.
In 2016, at age 89, Lee walked 2.5 miles in several cities to represent the 2.5 years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Galveston. Her activism has inspired similar marches in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
The museum is tentatively expected to open in 2029. As part of the festivities surrounding the demolition, the Church also donated 38,000 pounds of food and essential supplies to the region, including deliveries to the Midwest Food Bank and four other local food pantries.
Lee, who has emphasized the importance of educating children, expressed her hope that the museum becomes a place where people of all backgrounds can gather. "Children need all that we can give them," Lee told NBC 5. "They're the most important people in the world, and they need to be raised up to a point where they know right from wrong."
