Opal Lee, ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ Says There is More to Do

Telisa Franklin, president of Memphis Juneteenth Festival, joins 
Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of the Juneteenth Movement,” for a 
book signing at the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum. 

Opal Lee (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of the Juneteenth Movement,” was in Memphis Aug. 28-31 to promote her children’s book, which is the first leg of the “Change is Possible Tour.” 

Aptly titled “Juneteenth: A Children’s Story,” the book was written by Lee, who was largely responsible for petitioning Congress to set aside June 19 as a federally-recognized holiday. 

“We want you to know that Juneteenth is not a Texas thing, and it's not a Black thing. It’s a ‘we’ thing,” said Lee, 94, who lives in Texas. “Now that we have it as a holiday, we can't rest on our laurels.”

It was in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, when enslaved Blacks learned that they were freed two years after President Lincoln signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lee arrived in Memphis with her tour manager, Dr. Belay Reddick; Shinita Reddick, his personal assistant and publicist; Dione Sims, Lee’s granddaughter; and Robert Sims Jr., Lee’s great grandson and photographer. 

State Rep. Karen D. Camper, Tennessee General Assembly’s District 87 representative, assisted Dr. Reddick in bringing Lee to Memphis. Telisa Franklin, president of the Memphis Juneteenth Festival, welcomed Lee and her entourage to Memphis.

Lee’s visit, said Franklin, “gave me a spark that should never die, that Juneteenth in Memphis should always be around. And we must continue educating as well as celebrating.” 

Dr. Reddick said Memphis was the first stop on the tour because he thought it would be a good idea to combine Lee’s civil rights activism and her social impact leadership with his interest in mass incarceration.

“We wanted to stop in Memphis first, because it was FedEx that hired me as an ex-felon,” said Dr. Reddick, a mentor coach, youth advocate, and conflict resolution expert who spent two decades in prison for a non-violent offense.

“We want to affect change from incarceration to restoration, because we live in a society that arrests people and throws away the key,” he said. “We have to have a plan to acclimate them back into society.”

Dr. Reddick honed-in on that message and more when he took the pulpit at Pursuit of God Church-Memphis, where members purchased copies of Lee’s book. Before Dr. Reddick’s message, Ricky Floyd, the church’s lead pastor, held a Q & A with Lee and Franklin.

For Lee, it had been a decades-long effort on her part and a 1,400-mile trek from Texas to D.C. that prompted Congress to act. The House vote was 415-14. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, representing Tennessee’s 9^th Congressional District, cast his vote to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

On June 17, President Joe Biden paid tribute to Lee at the White House before signing into law the groundbreaking Senate Bill 475, i.e., the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. 

“There is too much more to do,” said Lee, encouraging more people to get involved. “I’m asking everybody to make yourselves a committee of one. You know people who are not on the same page you’re on.”

Lee is keenly aware that some people may be ignorant of Juneteenth and need to be educated to understand its significance. “It’s left up to you to change their minds,” she said.

Elaine Lee Turner, who operates the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, where Lee held a book signing, said, “She is an inspiration to all of us because of her perseverance, stamina, her determination to have Juneteenth proclaimed a national holiday.”

(For copies of Opal Lee’s book, “Juneteenth: A Children’s Story,” log onto https://www.opalswalk2dc.com/store)

Historical marker a fitting tribute to the Lee sisters

The story of the Lee sisters in now etched in bronze. From left: Peggy Jayne Lee, Sandra
Faye Lee Swift, Elaine Lee Turner, Ernestine Lee Henning and Brenda Lee Turner
(Photo by Wiley Henry)

Going to jail is not at all pomp and circumstance. But for a family of courageous sisters, it was a “badge of honor” to be carted off to jail 17 times during the turbulent civil rights movement.

On March 25, more than 50 years later, a historical marker was unveiled honoring Ernestine Lee Henning, Sandra Faye Lee Swift, Brenda Lee Turner, Elaine Lee Turner, the late Joan Lee Nelson, Peggy Jayne Lee and Susan Carlotta Lee.

“This is living history,” said Jimmy Ogle, county historian for the Shelby County Historical Commission, which preserves, educates and approves requests for historical markers.

The marker was unveiled in front of Royal Furniture at the corner of South Main and Gayoso, site of the former Black and White Store before it was renamed Shainberg’s, where Ernestine and Elaine were arrested.

“We’re here because we are indebted to the Lee sisters,” said the Rev. Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., senior pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church and member of the Commission. “We’re here to pay a debt that we owe the Lee sisters.”

It was Gray and Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., a WDIA luminary and fellow Commission member that set in motion the process to preserve the legacy of the Lee sisters after the death of Joan Lee Nelson last year in September.

“Tell the Lord thank you for the Lee sisters,” Stansbury told the intimate group of family and supporters that gathered around the marker to witness living history and the story of the sisters’ gallantry.

Vasco “Smitty” Smith III, son of the late civil rights activists Vasco and Maxine Smith, referenced the Lee sisters’ tenacity to stay the course despite the fact that some activists were injured or killed in their pursuit of justice and equality.

“This is one strong, brave group of women,” Smith said.  

Grace Meacham, a retired schoolteacher who attended the former LeMoyne College with Ernestine and likewise sat in with her at libraries and lunch counters, said the Lee sisters deserve recognition for their contribution to civil rights.

“It has taken 57 years for the sit-in movement to be recognized,” said Meacham.

There were accolades aplenty during the unveiling ceremony, including a reference to a 1965 Jet magazine article hailing the Lee sisters, and brothers, as the most arrested civil rights family in the United States.

“I was in high school at the time,” said Brenda Lee Turner, reflecting on her arrest record with three of her sisters at Peggy Jayne Lee’s law office a couple of days before the marker unveiling.

“We knew the risk we were taking,” said Brenda, adding: “We were excited about getting arrested.”

Peggy was around 12 years old when her older sisters were getting arrested for sitting in at department stores along Main Street. She couldn’t wait to follow their lead. Neither could Susan, the youngest sister.

“At night when they came in, they were like conquering heroes,” said Peggy. “We would be waiting on them so they could tell us what happened during the day.”

Ernestine, the oldest sister, was compelled to fight for justice, determined to end discrimination, and hell-bent on dismantling Jim Crow laws. She led the charge to desegregate lunch counters, libraries, stores and other facilities.

“It just wasn’t right,” said Ernestine, who lives in Los Angeles.

Elaine was arrested three times. “After Ernestine had been arrested for taking part in the first sit-in, we were just excited,” she said. “There was so much excitement in the Lee household.”

Getting up every day to picket, march or sit in was a “daily duty” the sisters took pride in. Elaine said their parents, the late Robert and Alversa Lee, encouraged their 14 children to stand up for justice.

They stood up and sat in, too, to call attention to the city’s unfair treatment of African Americans and the upheaval that had spread throughout the South across political and social spectrums.

“We brought attention to injustices,” said Brenda. “We made a difference and I’m glad that we got a chance to be a part of it.”

More than a decade after the civil rights movement, Elaine and Joan would continue to fight and educate people eager to learn about local African-American history. In 1983, they founded Heritage Tours.

“We have a civil rights tour,” said Elaine. “This [marker] will fit right into that type of tour, as groups come from all over the country. They come to learn the history of Memphis.”

And they will come to learn about the Lee sisters too.

Selma-bound Memphians ready to roll

      Elaine Lee Turner didn’t need words to describe the pandemonium that broke out on U.S. Route 80 in Selma, Ala. However, those who reported the news on March 7, 1965, and thereafter, were calling that moment in history “Bloody Sunday.”

      On that fateful day, more than 600 civil rights marchers were pummeled with billy clubs and tear-gassed in a horrendous show of force by state and local lawmen hell-bent on stopping the determined marchers from crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge into neighboring Montgomery.

      Turner, a 20-year-old junior at LeMoyne College that year, wasn’t there on Bloody Sunday, but was disturbed nonetheless by those horrific images of wanton injustice at the behest of law enforcement.

Elaine Lee Turner

      “They just wanted the right to vote,” said Turner, who heeded the call from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to join the nationwide throng of freedom fighters for a third attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery’s state capitol.

      Although the 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights ended tragically the first time, Turner was among the sea of freedom fighters making their presence felt and their demands known. Those images of Bloody Sunday, however, still tug at Turner every now and then.

      On Sunday (March 8th), Turner, the owner of Heritage Tours of Memphis, will return to Selma with a busload to commemorate Bloody Sunday and to reenact that pivotal moment in history 50 years ago that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

      A reporter from The New Tri-State Defender will also be among the group to offer a unique perspective via Twitter feed, photos and news stories to reflect the journey from Memphis to Selma and back.

      The pre-march rally will start at Brown Chapel AME Church, the site of the now famous march in 1965. Marchers will also cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma and return for a rally at the foot of the bridge to salute the “foot soldiers.”

      In 1965, Turner was stirred to action before the fight for justice, freedom and equality was beginning to gain traction. She is still just as spry, dedicated and duty-bound to make life better for African Americans in 2015. The trip to Selma, she said, is a reminder of how far African Americans have come.

      “It’s hard to describe my feelings now,” said Turner, who was arrested numerous times in the ’60s for participating in the civil rights movement. Many of her siblings were arrested a number of times as well, which caught the nation’s attention as a family of freedom fighters.

      “In reflecting on the beatings and severity in 1965 Selma, we won our rights,” said Turner, “but some of them are being challenged today.”

African Americans, she said, should not put aside their marching shoes. “We still have to march to maintain the rights that we fought so hard for. We have to be the guardians of those rights and not take them for granted.”

      Turner alluded to today’s justice system and its inability to administer justice in the recent wave of police-associated deaths involving young African-American men. Cases in point: Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner and Tamir Rice.

      “We’ve fought for a lot of rights, but there is still trouble in our justice system,” Turner said. “We just have to continue the struggle.”