WASHINGTON D.C. (WBAP/KLIF News) – A civil rights icon and Fort Worth native may be adding another title to list of accomplishments.
There’s a Congressional push to nominate Mrs. Opal Lee, who helped make Juneteenth a national holiday, for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Congressman Mark Veasey (TX-33) and U.S. Senator John Cornyn are two of the 33 members of Congress who signed a letter to the Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to nominate the 95-year-old activist.
“As an advocate, Mrs. Lee’s hopes to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday went far beyond just recognizing the day that the final enslaved people were notified of their freedom. It’s also a symbol of her hope that we as Americans can come together and unify against social issue that are plagues on our nation such as homelessness, education inequality, and food insecurity to name a few,” said the letter.
Lee has worked tirelessly for almost half a century to make sure all Americans are treated equally and to educate people on the accomplishments and history of African Americans.
In 2016, she gained national attention after walking 1,400 miles from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. at 89 years old on behalf of the cause.
President Biden signed a bill into law in June 2021, making June 19th, a federal holiday.
The date honors June 19, 1865 when Union soldiers delivered the news that slavery had ended to black people in Galveston, Texas.
The news came over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves and two months after the Confederacy had surrendered.
Click here to red the full letter.
The laureates will be announced in October.
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