Juneteenth celebrations commemorate end of slavery in Texas

DALLAS - Many Texas will celebrate Juneteenth today. It commemorates the end of slavery in Texas and much of the south.

On this day in 1865, former slaves in Texas learned slavery had been abolished by President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Fort Worth has a Juneteenth clean up event in the city’s West Morningside neighborhood, south of Downtown. Volunteers will help clean the neighborhood started at 10 a.m.

Dallas’ Juneteenth festival will be from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. The event will feature local vendors, live entertainment, food, arts, crafts and more.

Meanwhile, the Fort Worth woman who walked to Washington D.C. in an effort to make Juneteenth a national holiday will be talking about her journey Monday night.

Ninety-year-old Opal Lee will share her story at the premiere of “The Last to Know” at Tarrant County College. There will be a reception at 7 p.m. followed by the screening.

Lee and her supporters walked in more than 20 states in her first campaign to talk to President Obama last year. She plans to start a second walking campaign to Washington D.C. hoping to get a meeting with President Trump.