President Joe Biden, on Thursday, welcomed a 94-year-old woman by kneeling during the Juneteenth festival. Juneteenth is celebrated to mark the end of slavery. During the celebration, when Vice President Kamala Harris introduced 94-year-old Juneteenth lawyer and former Texas teacher Opal Lee to President Biden, he welcomed her by going down on one knee.
A resident of Marshall and Fort Worth, Opal Lee has celebrated Juneteenth every year. According to sources, in 1939, when Opal was 13 years old, a group of white people raided her house and burnt the entire house on Juneteenth. After this incident, Lee began raising public awareness and support for Juneteenth in Washington in 2016. In fact, Juneteenth is often referred to as Independence Day or Emancipation Day because it was the day when enslaved African Americans were freed in the last rebel state.
Opal gets standing ovation from the public
Before signing the bill, Biden asked the audience to give Opal Lee a standing ovation. In his speech, Biden said, "We should feel blessed to celebrate this day in the presence of Opal Lee." He added that Opal had achieved great success by making Juneteenth her mission.
'Opal is an incredible woman'
Biden describes Opal as 'an incredible woman.' Biden gave Opal Lee the first pen he used to sign bills into laws. After Congress passed the bill on Wednesday, Opal Lee told reporters, "I have so many different feelings, I don't know how to express them."