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Opal Lee didn't attend her annual Walk for Freedom in Fort Worth, but her legacy still led the way

By
Lauren Crawford
Lauren Crawford
Lauren Crawford joined the CBS News Texas team in July of 2023. Born in Fort Worth and raised in Keller, she is thrilled to be home and telling stories that make a difference in the community. She's a sixth-generation Texan and a third-generation TCU Horned Frog!
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Lauren Crawford

/ CBS Texas

Opal Lee's Walk for Freedom wrapped up in Fort Worth Thursday morning, but it was missing the person who started it all. 

Lee's granddaughter, Dione Sims, told the crowd before the walk that Lee wouldn't participate or even be in attendance due to her recent health scare.

Although Lee didn't walk this year, her legacy still led the way.

"I knew this day would come, but I didn't want it to come," Sims said. "I was talking to her Monday, and she told me, 'You got it, just keep it going.' And that's what I'm doing."

The crowd stepped off just after 9 a.m. Thursday, Juneteenth, in Fort Worth's Cultural District. This year, participants proudly held signs and balloons carrying forward a mission that started long before Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021.

The North Texas icon has walked two and a half miles every Juneteenth to symbolize the two and a half years it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn they were free, after the Emancipation Proclamation.

There was a deep sense of pride and purpose among the walkers.

"Ms. Opal Lee has done some amazing things," said Erica Goosby, a Walk for Freedom participant. "She's from my neighborhood. I'm like a third-party relative and she's a grandmother to all of us and I love her for what she has done for us, empowering the Emancipation [Proclamation] even more." 

The goal is to hold a walk in all 50 states next year. Lee's team also said they plan to hold a major event in Washington, D.C. next Juneteenth, in honor of the U.S. turning 250. 

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