Fort Worth civil rights trailblazer Opal Lee’s portrait would be the first hung on the walls of the Senate Chamber in decades.
The Texas Senate honored Opal Lee, a Fort Worth activist known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” on Thursday.
As senators recognized Lee, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made a recommendation that her portrait be permanently hung in the Senate chamber. As co-vice chairman of the Texas State Preservation Board, Patrick likely holds some sway over the art that is hung in the chamber he oversees.
Lee, a Fort Worth activist, led the charge for the national Juneteenth holiday, which recognizes the day in 1865 that Union troops arrived in Galveston to inform enslaved people of their freedom, about 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Last month, President Joe Biden signed into law legislation that made Juneteenth a federal holiday.
The resolution to honor Lee, who was born in Marshall and raised in Fort Worth, was raised by Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson.
“Because of her determination, every year the American people will pause on June 19th to remember this dark part of our history and celebrate what is possible when we unite for a better, brighter future,” Powell wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “As Ms. Opal said this afternoon, ‘We are stronger when we are united as one.’”
Her portrait would be the first portrait added to the chamber in several decades.
According to the Texas State Preservation Board, the chamber art is a collection of historical Texas paintings, 15 of which hung in the room before 1915.
A number of portraits on the Senate walls are of figures with ties to the Confederacy, including Jefferson Davis and John H. Reagan, who served as its postmaster general. Among the more recent portraits added to the Senate chamber were those of Barbara Jordan, the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, and Henry B. Gonzalez, who served in both the Texas Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said the suggestion to add Lee to the walls would be an important step toward making the art on the Senate walls more reflective of Texans.
He added that the recommendation came as a pleasant surprise given the tension surrounding the Democratic walkout that has stalled action in the House and prevented Senate bills from moving forward.
“This is one of the better days of my service in the Texas Senate this session,” West said. “The other one was when we named the building after Barbara Jordan.”
West said Lee’s family would be consulted in choosing someone to commission for the portrait, although he added that he hopes an artist from Fort Worth would be considered.
