‘Grandmother of Juneteenth’ among Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 people on Friday. The medal is the highest civilian honor in the country.

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“The grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal Lee, is among the group of 19 politicians, activists and entertainers chosen for the Medal of Freedom this year, ABC News reported.

Lee petitioned to have Juneteenth declared a federal holiday, which happened in 2021 and marks the day, June 19, 1865, when the Union Army entered Galveston, Texas, to spread the word that all enslaved African Americans were freed.

The Emancipation Proclamation, the document that freed African Americans in Confederate states, went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863. The Civil War ended in April 1965, but it took a long time to enforce the proclamation, according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

Lee started her mission in 2016 when she was 89, pledging to walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. to have Juneteenth named a national holiday.

The other award recipients include:

• Clarence Jones -- civil rights activist and lawyer who gave legal counsel to the Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. He also helped write the opening paragraphs to King’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” The Associated Press reported.
• Gregory Boyle -- Jesuit Catholic priest and founder of Homeboy Industries.
• Phil Donahue -- journalist, former talk-show host.
• Katie Ledecky -- Olympic swimmer, most decorated female swimmer in history.
• Ellen Ochoa -- the first Hispanic woman in space and the second female director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
• Jane Rigby -- astronomer
• Teresa Romero -- United Farm Workers president, first Hispanic woman to lead a national union in the U.S.
• Judy Shepard -- Matthew Shepard Foundation co-founder, named after her son who was beaten, tied to a fence and died in 1998.
• Jim Thorpe -- (posthumous) first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. He died in 1953.
• Michelle Yeoh -- actress, first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress.
• Medgar Evers -- (posthumous) fought segregation in Mississippi as NAACP’s first field officer. He was shot and killed in his driveway in 1963.
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi -- former Speaker of the House.
• Sen. Elizabeth Dole -- former Senator representing North Carolina, former transportation secretary, labor secretary and American Red Cross president.
• Michael Bloomberg -- businessman, philanthropist and former New York City mayor.
• Al Gore -- former vice president and climate activist
• Sen. John Kerry -- former senator and Biden’s former climate envoy
• Sen. Frank Lautenberg -- (posthumous) former senator from New York
• Rep. James Clyburn -- representing South Carolina.

In all, there are 10 men and nine women who received medals on Friday. Three were given posthumously, the AP reported.

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Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony 2024 WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 03: U.S. President Joe Biden walks into the East Room for the Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House on May 3, 2024 in Washington, DC. President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor, to 19 individuals including political leaders, civil rights icons and other influential cultural icons. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

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