@giraffeheroes.bsky.social
Encouraging today's heroes, and training tomorrow's.
Check out our free storybank of Giraffe Heroes: https://www.giraffe.org/
Check out our free storybank of Giraffe Heroes: https://www.giraffe.org/
On June 19, 2021, Lee once again walked her 2 and a half miles, this time, on a national holiday.
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
On June 19, 2021, Lee once again walked her 2 and a half miles, this time, on a national holiday.
Lee became a teacher and school counselor until retiring in 1977, when she began working as a community organizer, helping Black Texans get access to housing, always talking to them about the history behind current events, and making sure they knew about Juneteenth.
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Lee became a teacher and school counselor until retiring in 1977, when she began working as a community organizer, helping Black Texans get access to housing, always talking to them about the history behind current events, and making sure they knew about Juneteenth.
It happened right there in Fort Worth, and the mob was hundreds of white supremacists. The Lee family was living in a white neighborhood. Oh and the do-nothing police officers were also white.
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
It happened right there in Fort Worth, and the mob was hundreds of white supremacists. The Lee family was living in a white neighborhood. Oh and the do-nothing police officers were also white.
When she was 12 years old, a mob set fire to her family’s house and burned it to the ground. They even took the furniture outside and burned that, too. Police were there, but they stood by and did nothing.
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
When she was 12 years old, a mob set fire to her family’s house and burned it to the ground. They even took the furniture outside and burned that, too. Police were there, but they stood by and did nothing.
That represented the two and a half years that enslaved people in Texas were not told that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. They found out on “Juneteenth.” It was a long road to this victory for Opal Lee.
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
That represented the two and a half years that enslaved people in Texas were not told that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. They found out on “Juneteenth.” It was a long road to this victory for Opal Lee.
Lots of people did notice. Lee presented Congress a petition urging them to declare Juneteenth a national holiday; it was signed by one and a half million Americans.
Why 2 1/2 miles a day?
Why 2 1/2 miles a day?
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Lots of people did notice. Lee presented Congress a petition urging them to declare Juneteenth a national holiday; it was signed by one and a half million Americans.
Why 2 1/2 miles a day?
Why 2 1/2 miles a day?
That was when she began a 2 1/2-mile-a-day walking campaign—from her home in Fort Worth to Washington DC, 1,400 miles away—speaking in cities along the way.
“I was thinking that surely somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice.”
“I was thinking that surely somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice.”
June 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
That was when she began a 2 1/2-mile-a-day walking campaign—from her home in Fort Worth to Washington DC, 1,400 miles away—speaking in cities along the way.
“I was thinking that surely somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice.”
“I was thinking that surely somebody would see a little old lady in tennis shoes trying to get to Congress and notice.”
4/4 Her action led hundreds of parents and kids to chalk the sign’s words on sidewalks, to walk-out at a nearby high school, and thousands to wear Everyone is Welcome Here T shirts. Inama has been told again to take the sign down or lose her job. She’s not taking it down.
April 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
4/4 Her action led hundreds of parents and kids to chalk the sign’s words on sidewalks, to walk-out at a nearby high school, and thousands to wear Everyone is Welcome Here T shirts. Inama has been told again to take the sign down or lose her job. She’s not taking it down.
3/4 It violated a state law and school policy about creating “a positive learning environment”!!! Astonished, she complied. But she went back to the room over the weekend and put it back up.
April 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
3/4 It violated a state law and school policy about creating “a positive learning environment”!!! Astonished, she complied. But she went back to the room over the weekend and put it back up.
2/4 In teacher Sarah Inama’s Idaho classroom, there’s a sign that says, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued.”
Her principal told her to take the sign down because it’s “not something everybody believes.”
Her principal told her to take the sign down because it’s “not something everybody believes.”
April 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
2/4 In teacher Sarah Inama’s Idaho classroom, there’s a sign that says, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued.”
Her principal told her to take the sign down because it’s “not something everybody believes.”
Her principal told her to take the sign down because it’s “not something everybody believes.”