As real estate professionals, I dare say that we would all agree that home is where everything begins and ends for everyone. Do real estate pros have a natural leaning to think real estate is the center of everything, especially in the U.S.? Yes! Are we wrong? Probably not.
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Likewise, Juneteenth, the U.S. federal holiday, unbeknownst to some, begins and ends with home.
“Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.” — John Adams, U.S. Founding Father and second U.S. President
The mother of Juneteenth
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, was federally codified in 2021 in the U.S., in large part due to the relentless activism led for decades by then 94-year-old Dr. (H.C.) Opal Lee.
“Opal Lee” by Userfromtheusa5000 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=openverse.
Dr. (H.C.) Lee, known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” did not simply lobby Congress. Her advocacy literally culminated in a walking testament to the link between emancipation and fair access and opportunity in the U.S.
In 2016, at age 89, she embarked on a 1,400-mile trek from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., walking two-and-a-half miles each day, symbolic of the two-and-a-half years between the Emancipation Proclamation and the day Union troops finally enforced freedom in Galveston on June 19, 1865.
Her trek framed Juneteenth not merely as a commemoration of the past, but as a continual journey for fair access and opportunity for all Americans today.
Broken promises
That unfair access and opportunity are nowhere clearer than in U.S. housing, beginning with the original broken promise of Juneteenth, which echoed into the 20th century. General Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15, which proposed “40 acres and a mule” for newly freed families, was overturned by President Andrew Jackson in the fall of 1865.
That began a century of legally excluding Black Americans from the single greatest generators of intergenerational wealth: land and homeownership. That century of legalized, often unchecked, unfair housing stripped Black communities and the overall U.S. economy (impacting us all) of billions in equity (as reported by Citigroup).
The following are some of the despicable, yet often lawful, acts inflicted based simply on traits superficial and inconsequential to owning a home (race, gender, etc.):
- Steering
- Blockbusting
- Exclusion from professional groups (including Realtor associations, for which Realtors have since apologized)
- Appraisal bias
- Forced (with low or no compensation) displacement (eminent domain, etc.)
- Denial of promised benefits (GI Bill, Fannie Mae, etc.)
- Threats of violence (sundown towns, etc.)
- Subprime loans
- Lending bias
- Redlining
- Restrictive covenants
- Predatory contract sales
Fair Housing
As no surprise, by the time the 1968 Fair Housing Act (and its subsequent amendments) was passed to end the legality of these practices (which still occur today but now have a legal penalty), the wealth gap was already deeply entrenched.
Yet, Black Americans, against all odds, have remained resilient. Notably, Dr. Lee’s life embodies these intersections. Characteristic of the 20th century’s anti-Black hate crimes, in 1939, when she was 12, a white mob burned down Dr. Lee’s family’s Fort Worth home on the anniversary of Juneteenth, furious that her parents had purchased property in a white neighborhood.
Therefore, as we celebrate National Homeownership Month and Juneteenth, the best declarations I can offer are not my words (which I have shared often, like here) but rather Dr. Lee’s poignant musings.
When a house is not a home: Opal Lee’s traumatic experience with unfair housing
Here’s what the living, venerable, almost-100-year-old Dr. Opal Lee has said about the impact of owning a home where you are welcomed (a.k.a. fair housing) versus not, as well as Juneteenth, which are riveting reflections for us today.
- “Our parents worked real hard … and then they bought this house on Annie Street.” — CNN Article
- (Regarding the family home before the attack) “the nicest place [we] had in Fort Worth.” — BWTimes
- “My parents bought a house, and my mom had it fixed up so nice. But on the 19th of June, 500 people gathered who didn’t want us in that neighborhood, and they tore that place apart and burned the furniture.” — Oprah Daily Interview
- “And there were policemen, and they didn’t do anything … Our parents sent us to friends several blocks away. (Then) they left under cover of darkness.” — CNN Article
- Recalling the night of the attack over 80 years ago, “were frightened to death when our parents sent us away from the house. To come back later to see it in shambles, that was traumatic.” — BWTimes
- “Those people threw out the furniture. They did despicable things.” — CNN Article
- “It amazes me because we would have been good neighbors, you know. They didn’t see it that way.” — ABC7 NY Article
- “The fact that it happened on the 19th day of June has spurred me to make people understand that Juneteenth is not just a festival.” — Freedom Center
- “It’s not about celebration; it’s about truth. It’s about honoring those who were enslaved and recognizing the resilience it took to carry on. It’s about teaching the full story of this country, not just the convenient parts.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love. But we need to know, you can’t erase history. So, let’s learn from it and be damned sure it doesn’t happen again.” — Freedom Center
- “I just felt there was something else that I needed to do. And I hit on the idea that if I walked from Fort Worth to Washington D.C. to ask the president to make Juneteenth a national holiday, that somebody would notice, and they did.” — Greenhill School Interview Transcript
- “I kept thinking, ‘Every mile I walk, then maybe people will learn about Juneteenth, and if I got to the White House and to the president, I’d make him aware of what Juneteenth was all about.'” — Greenhill School Interview Transcript
- “People think it’s a Texas thing, or a Black thing, but it’s not. It’s about freedom for everybody.” — Greenhill School Interview Transcript
- “We have simply got to make people aware that none of us are free until we’re all free, and we aren’t free yet.” — Freedom Center
‘Committee of One’: How Opal Lee’s journey reached a nation
Lee continued to speak and advocate across the nation about important topics surrounding these issues for black americans.
- “Growing up in East Texas, we celebrated Juneteenth every year, and I assumed the rest of the country did too.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the issue announced that all enslaved people were free and stood in what that order called ‘absolute equality’ with former enslavers. Whew! Can you imagine?” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “They gained so much that day: the ability to name themselves and have children who weren’t going to be taken away from them; to dress themselves the way they saw fit; to own property.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “That question became a burden I couldn’t shake. I knew Juneteenth needed to be more than a local or regional observance.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “I know what it means to live in a country that wants to forget. My walks were my way of fighting for a country that might one day actively choose to remember.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “I did walk two and a half miles in many cities across the country. One mile for every year that freedom was delayed for those enslaved in Texas.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “When people saw an old lady walking two and a half miles in the heat and the cold, through cities she’d never been to before, they asked questions. And those questions led to conversations. Those conversations led to understanding and that understanding led to change.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “I met children who told me they’d never heard of Juneteenth before, but now they’d never forget it. I met elders who wept, grateful to see our history finally getting the light it deserved.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “There were people of all backgrounds — Black, white, Latino, Asian — who said, ‘I didn’t know before, but I want to know now.'” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “This is why it’s important to make yourself a committee of one. It really does only take one determined person to make change.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “I’ve been called the Grandmother of Juneteenth, and I wear that name with pride. But I didn’t walk for a title. I walked for justice and truth.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “Unity, freedom is what Juneteenth is all about.” — Oprah Daily Interview
Juneteenth finally became a federal holiday
Lee had many emotions, thoughts and words of wisdom to share when the holiday was finally federally recognized.
- “Let’s celebrate freedom from the 19th of June to the Fourth of July, because we weren’t all free in 1776.” — Oprah Daily Interview
- “Juneteenth must stand tall beside the Fourth — not as a replacement, but as a reckoning, a completion of the freedom story.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
- “People ask me all the time if I’m afraid that Juneteenth will be removed as a federal holiday in light of the change in administrations. I can’t say that I am. It’s written into law, so I’m hoping that the new administration would not be able to just dissolve it … I’m going to hunker down and pray that things aren’t disrupted too much. And if they are, I know a God who will carry us through. And I’m sure I can get me a new pair of tennis shoes.” — Oprah Daily Book Excerpt (A Committee of One)
Finally home
In June 2024, a collaborative partnership between Trinity Habitat for Humanity, HistoryMaker Homes and Texas Capital gifted Dr. Lee a home on the plot of land where her family had been terrorized on Juneteenth 1939, almost 85 years earlier to the day, and she shared with CNN:
- “I wanted to do a holy dance. I’m a happy camper, girl, you cannot believe how happy I am!” — CNN
- “He was going to give it to me! They brought the plans to me, where Habitat planned to build a house for me on that lot. I tell you, how about that coming full circle?” — CNN
Hear, hear, Dr. Opal Lee, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and, might I add, living Barbie doll. May your historic walk and life’s journey continue to inspire our steps. Happy Juneteenth!
Dr. Lee Davenport is an MBA professor and executive business coach. Follow her on YouTube and Instagram, or visit her website.
