In 1939, Texas changemaker Opal Lee and her family were driven out of their home and off of their land by a racist white mob. She was only 12 years old at the time.
Today, at age 97, Lee has not only returned to the land but also acquired ownership of it, CBS News reports.
The retired teacher and activist within her community of Fort Worth, TX, is the one who worked tirelessly, and successfully, campaigning to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Now, she shares what may have planted her lifelong pursuit of righting wrongs.
“They tore it asunder,” she recalled of the group of white people who showed up to destroy her family’s home so long ago, just five days after they’d moved in. “They set stuff on fire. They did despicable things.”
Moreover, although her family moved on, both figuratively and literally from the property, Lee recently mustered up the courage to act on her curiosity about what ultimately happened to the land, she says.
After looking up the address, she soon found out that the lot was still vacant and now owned by a local Habitat for Humanity chapter. Lee reached out to the organization, and what transpired next floored her.
Gage Yager, CEO of the Trinity Habitat for Humanity chapter, took Lee’s call and listened to her share her experience. He ultimately told her that she would be unable to “buy” the property.
Instead, he gave her an offer that she could not resist.
“I said, ‘Well, we won’t sell it to you, Opal, but we’ll give it to you,’” Yager told the outlet. “There’s no option for anything else.”
If that gesture wasn’t kind enough, Yager also offered to work alongside donors to build a house on Lee’s recently acquired land at no cost.
The goal is for Lee to move in by her 99th birthday.
“I want you to know that I’ve got a God who has been so good to me,” Lee said. “I think if I ask, he’d let me have a couple more years.”
Now, Lee continues to reap the benefits of all of the seeds she’s sewn in her neighborhood and beyond.
