Opal Lee celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 7, and the date came with more than cake. Crews in Fort Worth began construction that same day on the National Juneteenth Museum, a project she has championed for years and that’s expected to open in 2029. Lee was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1926 and grew up in Fort Worth, where her family’s home was destroyed by a racist mob on Juneteenth 1939.

That day shaped everything that followed. She spent decades teaching and organizing, and at 89 she walked from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., gathering signatures to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Congress did that in 2021. Health issues kept her off her annual Juneteenth walk in 2025 and 2026, but she attended her centennial celebration and told people she’s feeling better.

For North Texas, the story hits close to home. It’s a Fort Worth woman, a Texas childhood, and a museum that will sit roughly an hour up the road from Waxahachie. Her own summary of a century is short: “I’m gon’ do it one day at a time.” What local story do you think deserves a place in a museum someday?