Opal Lee Walks to Washington

90-year-old Opal Lee is Walking To Washington To Make Juneteenth a National Day of Observance, before President Obama leaves office.

“I started my walk September 1st. I started out thinking I need to see President Obama and ask him why. In all of the eight years he’s been in office he hasn’t mentioned the 19th of June. I figure if an old lady started walking he’d let me talk to him,” Lee said.

Opal Lee is determined to make Juneteeth, the day that commemorates the abolition of slavery, a national holiday. The great grandmother and community activist is walking the 1,300 miles from her home in Fort Worth, Texas all the way to Washington, D.C.