Opal Lee will not be able to lead a walk marking Juneteenth Thursday. Lee led the effort to create a national holiday for Juneteenth marking the day Union troops arrived in Galveston to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation at the end of the Civil War.
Lee, 98, spent time in the hospital in May after a health issue while traveling to accept an award at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has been recovering at home, and her doctors advised against walking this year.
Her granddaughter, Dione Sims, will lead the walk instead. Lee's family says she may be able to ride along in a car, or she may watch the parade by video.
The "Walk for Freedom" starts at 9 a.m. Thursday outside Farrington Field in Fort Worth. The walk runs 2.5 miles through the Cultural District to mark 2.5 years between the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued to the time Union troops arrived in Galveston.