Opal Lee settles into new Fort Worth house
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Civil rights icon Opal Lee holds a Presidential Medal of Freedom and several honorary doctorates, including from SMU. Photo: Courtesy of Trinity Habitat for Humanity
Eighty-five years ago this week, Opal Lee's family home in Fort Worth was terrorized by a racist mob. Her family had to relocate to another home a few blocks away.
- At 97, Lee has returned home.
Why it matters: Lee is a civil rights icon and a driving force behind the creation of the Juneteenth federal holiday.
- Grapevine-based HistoryMaker Homes and Dallas-based Texas Capital worked with Trinity Habitat for Humanity to build Lee a new house on the same lot her family was forced to abandon in 1939.
Driving the news: The house was completed within three months, in time for Juneteenth.
- Lee, who was living elsewhere in Fort Worth, received the house keys on Friday.
The intrigue: The house is 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms, along with a built-in study.
- Texas Capital, HistoryMaker Homes and their vendors helped pay for the house and its furnishings, which Lee selected.
- Some Lee family mementos are embedded into the concrete of the house. They include a dress that belonged to Lee's mother.
- Volunteers stocked the fridge and pantry just days before Lee moved in.
Flashback: Lee said at the house's wall raising event in March that she planned to only bring her toothbrush when it was completed. She wanted a fresh start.
- She waved around her toothbrush at Friday's homecoming event, saying she couldn't wait to move in.
What she's saying: "I don't know how to describe it. It's wonderful, like a bit of heaven," she told Axios on Friday, rocking in a chair on her new porch.
The bottom line: "Give people their roses while they can still smell them," said Renee Toliver, a Fort Worth judge and Lee's granddaughter.
- "We wanted her to know how much she was loved."
What's next: Lee plans to invite her friends and neighbors to a housewarming party at the new house.
Meanwhile: She's working with local and national civil rights advocates to open a National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth.
- Habitat plans to build 100 houses over the next five years in her honor. The organization says it will donate 10% of the sponsorship money it collects for the homes toward the museum project.
- Texas Capital has offered to be the first sponsor.