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20h ago

Opal Lee to Join 160th Juneteenth Walk Virtually as Granddaughter Leads

Following a May hospital stay, doctors have advised that she avoid the outdoor event because of health risks from the forecasted heat

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The walk participants led by Dione Sims, the granddaughter of Opal Lee, begin to walk on their route for the Opal Lee Walk for Freedom at Farrington Field in Fort Worth on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
Opal Lee, 98, (center) will not attend this year’s Walk of Freedom, recognizing the Juneteenth holiday, due to health concerns, but she plans to participate virtually. She’s shown here at the walk in 2023.
Opal Lee, nicknamed 'Grandmother of Juneteenth' will skip the annual Walk for Freedom march this year

Overview

  • The annual 2.5-mile Walk for Freedom began Thursday at 9 a.m. at Fort Worth’s Farrington Field to commemorate 160 years since Juneteenth.
  • Opal Lee, 98, will participate through a virtual feed after recovering from a recent hospitalization in Ohio.
  • Dione Sims, Lee’s granddaughter and president of Unity Unlimited Inc., took the lead on the march in her grandmother’s stead.
  • Lee launched the walk in 2016 to advocate for national recognition and has never missed a year until now.
  • Her decades of activism culminated in the federal Juneteenth holiday designation in 2021 and have inspired parallel walks nationwide.