Opal Lee, the 97-year-old Texan nicknamed "Grandmother of Juneteenth" received keys on June 14, 2024, to her new home. It was a momentous occasion, as the home is in the same lot where Lee's family was driven away by a racist mob when she was 12 years-old. In 1939, when Lee was a child, her parents bought the home in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S., but an angry mob that grew to around 500 people rioted the arrival of a black family moving into the neighborhood. They broke the home's windows and dragged the family's furniture out in the street and destroyed it. Lee's family left the area, and never talked about it again. Years later, with Lee in her nineties, Trinity Habitrat for Humanity bought the land, and when Lee found out, she called its CEO and her longtime friend, Gage Yager to inquire if she could purchase the lot. After Yager learned of what had happened in 1939, the lot was sold to Lee for $10. HistoryMaker Homes built the house at no cost to Lee, while financial services company Texas Capital provided funding for its furnishings and a JCPenney store donated appliances and linens. On June 14th, a ceremony was held to welcome Lee into the newly completed home, just a few days before the U.S. celebrated Juneteenth, the national holiday marking the end of slavery. Lee looks forward to hosting an open house to get to know her neighbors. "Everybody will know that this is going to be a happy place," she remarked.

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