Opal Lee

Retired educator Opal Lee of Texas set an ambitious new goal just before her 90th birthday in 2016. She decided to embark upon a walking pilgrimage to Washington, DC, to raise awareness about making Juneteenth a holiday. Lee got her wish in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed a bill officially making Juneteenth (June 19) a national holiday.

Lee has said, "[Juneteenth] should be a unifier. First of all, slaves did not free themselves. It took abolitionists and Quakers and all kinds of folks to help and lobby to get the slaves freed. We need to acknowledge that and we need to unify and help people to come to the realization that working together is ... a lot better than trying to do things by yourself. I truly believe that we can do so much more together rather than apart."

Al Edwards

Called the “Father of Juneteenth”, Albert Ely Edwards founded in 1985 Juneteenth USA, the oldest Juneteenth nonprofit advocacy organization in the US. Its purpose at its founding was to raise awareness of the Juneteenth holiday and to encourage US state legislatures to pass Juneteenth as a state holiday. Under Edwards’ leadership, over 30 state legislatures around the country passed a bill making Juneteenth or “June 19th” a state holiday.

Edwards served in the Texas State Legislature for 28 years for Houston’s District 146. His first major law was to ensure the establishment of a holiday that recognized the emancipation of slavery. Celebrated on June 19th, Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. Legislation recognizing Juneteenth, initiated by Edwards, passed the Texas State Legislature and was signed into law in 1979. Edwards passed away in 2020, a year before the state holiday would become a national holiday.

Sharon Jordan Holley

Sharon Jordan Holley is a retired librarian and storyteller from Buffalo, New York. She is a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Storytellers and the 2009 recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award, their highest award for excellence in storytelling.

A student of history and strong community advocate, Holley has worked with Juneteenth of Buffalo, Inc., which started as a festival in 1976 to be a culturally relevant alternative to the USA’s Bicentennial Celebration. The popular event has grown and happens each year in Buffalo’s Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

Carole Boston Weatherford

Carole Boston Weatherford is a college professor and best-selling children’s book author. She wrote the beautifully illustrated 1995 book, Juneteenth Jamboree, which chronicles young Cassandra’s discovery and excitement about the activities of her new town’s celebration.

In Juneteenth Jamboree, Cassandra gradually learns the significance of the historic celebration and how the parades, dances, and picnic bring all the community together. Publishers Weekly said the book’s “enthusiastic text allows readers to discover–and celebrate–the holiday along with Cassandra.”

Weatherford has authored over 40 books, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, which won a Caldecott Honor Medal. Her books counter racist stereotypes and celebrate the African-American freedom struggle. She is a longtime professor of English at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

Jack Yates

As one of the most important community leaders in Texas after the Civil War, pastor and educator John Henry “Jack” Yates was instrumental in establishing some of the most important places and institutions in Houston, including Freedman’s Town, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Texas Southern University, and Juneteenth’s Emancipation Park.

Born into slavery in 1828 in Virginia, Yates and his family moved to Houston after slavery’s end in Texas in 1865. Within five years he had saved enough money to purchase his own house and several lots nearby. In 1872, Yates and other Freedman residents – Elias Dibble, Richard Allen and Richard Brock – purchased 10 acres of land for $800 and named it Emancipation Park, to honor their newly received freedom and to serve as a place to celebrate Juneteenth with their families. Today Emancipation Park is recognized as the oldest public park in Texas. The park still continues to host on its hallowed grounds the city’s annual celebration of Juneteenth.

After his death in December 1897, Yates's legacy also lived on through his family; many of his 12 children and their offspring remained in Texas and became prominent community leaders in their own right.

Annette Gordon-Reed

Historian Annette Gordon-Reed is a Harvard University professor and author of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Hemingses of Monticello. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she earned both the National Humanities Medal and the MacArthur Genius Grant Fellowship in 2010.

Gordon-Reed grew up in Livingston, Texas, and is the descendant of enslaved people brought to the state in the 1820s. She wrote On Juneteenth, which was named one of the New York Times’ best books of 2021. It traces the sweeping story of Juneteenth’s importance to American history and the integral role of African-Americans in Texas’ history. Her book recounts Juneteenth’s origins in 1860s Texas and the enormous hardships that African-Americans have endured from Reconstruction, through Jim Crow, and beyond.