Another tremendous honor for the Grandmother of Juneteenth, as the State Senate unveiled a portrait of Opal Lee.
"Man, it made me look so good," Lee told KRLD News. "I loved it, right down to the mole on my face."
Painted by Jess Coleman, the portrait shows the 96-year-old wearing a blue outfit sitting in a green upholstered chair.
The State Senate gave Lee a lengthy standing ovation after the portrait was unveiled.
"I really didn't know which aisle was which," said Lee, referring to the fact that members of both political parties were standing and applauding her. "And so many of them got up and spoke to it that they liked it, and they liked me, and they like what I'm doing. I was overwhelmed."
Lee started her advocacy to make Juneteenth a national holiday eight years ago, walking 1,400 miles from Fort Worth to Washington, DC.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers informed Black slaves in Galveston that they were free.
It came two months after the Confederacy surrendered and about 2 1/2 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lee's efforts came to fruition on June 17, 2021, when, with Lee in attendance, President Biden signed the declaration making Juneteenth -- June 19 -- a federal holiday.
"It's so many people who are involved and who've contributed and keep on working to make freedom available to everybody," said Lee. "That's what it's all about, just to get people to understand."
Lee said by working together, people can make the United States the best country in the world.
"I've asked people to make themselves a committee of one to change somebody's mind. Now we know people who aren't on the same page with us, so change their minds. If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love."
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