Juneteenth And Beyond: Celebrating Black Women Leaders Changing The World

Opal Lee, called the grandmother of Juneteenth, has spent her life working for racial equity and freedom.

Vice President Kamala Harris introduced the declaration of Juneteenth as a national holiday and President Joe Biden signed it into law. But it was Opal Lee, 94, who deserved the accolades.

“@VP Kamala Harris introduced the declaration of #Juneteenth as a national holiday and President @JoeBiden signed it into law. But it was #OpalLee, 94, who deserved the accolades. ”

An activist for equity and justice all of her life, in 2016, she walked 300 miles of a planned 1400 mile trip to support Juneteenth. “I’ve kept walking. I’ve kept on talking,” Lee said. “Now Juneteenth is a national holiday.”

Juneteenth commemorates the day—June 19, 1865—Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his U.S. troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the enslaved people there that the Civil War had ended more than two years earlier.

Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived at Galveston on June 19, 1865, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. That was more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.

General Order No. 3 declared: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor."

Since then, Juneteenth events have been celebrated around the country. Now it is official.

In the spirit of Opal Lee, and in honor of Juneteenth, Take The Lead salutes five Black women leaders (and there are millions more) who are making a difference with their lives, mission, activism and work.

“In the spirit of #OpalLee, and in honor of #Juneteenth, @Takeleadwomen salutes five #Black #womenleaders (and there are millions more) who are making a difference with their lives, mission, activism and work. ”

Dr. Uche Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity. Watch her here on Take The Lead’s Virtual Happy Hour. She was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of “10 Diversity and Inclusion Trailblazers You Need to Get Familiar With.” An MSNBC medical contributor, she is a former Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the former Faculty Director for Recruitment, Retention and Inclusion in the Office of Diversity Affairs at NYU School of Medicine. In 2020, she was one of 31 inaugural leaders awarded an unrestricted grant for her advocacy work from the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund.

“@Uche_blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, was recognized by @Forbes magazine as one of “10 Diversity and Inclusion Trailblazers You Need to Get Familiar With.” #blackwomenlead”

Inger Burnett-Zeigler, licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, and author of Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women. Read more about her in Take The Lead and watch her here in Take The Lead’s Virtual Happy Hour.

“@Ibzpsychphd is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at @NUFeinbergMed, and author of #NobodyKnowsTheTroubleIveSeen #blackwomen #leaders”

Tiffany Dufu, founder and CEO of The Cru, and author of Drop The Ball. She was a launch team member to Lean In and was Chief Leadership Officer at Levo, one of the fastest growing millennial professional networks. Read more in Take The Lead about Tiffany here and watch her on the Virtual Happy Hour here.

“@Tdufu is the founder and CEO of @Findyourcru, and author of Drop The Ball. She was a launch team member to Lean In and was Chief Leadership Officer at Levo, one of the fastest growing millennial professional networks. #blackwomen #leaders”

Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter for the New York Times and creator of the 1619 Project, is co-founder the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, a training and mentorship organization dedicated to increasing the ranks of investigative reporters of color. She serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Investigative Reporting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her tenure denial has caused controversy and sparked claims of First Amendment violations. She is a former investigative reporter at ProPublica, The Oregonian in Portland, Ore. and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Read more on Hannah-Jones in Take The Lead. 

“@Nhannahjones, Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter for the @nytimes and creator of the 1619 Project, is co-founder the @IBWellsSociety for Investigative Reporting, a training and #mentorship organization that supports investigative reporters of color.”

Minda Harts, CEO of The Memo LLC, a career development platform that helps women of color advance in the workplace, and bestselling author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need To Know To Secure A Seat At The Table, and her new book, Right Within: How to Heal from Racial Trauma in the Workplace. Read more in Take The Lead on Minda here and watch Minda in Virtual Happy Hour here.