Oni Press has just released a graphic biography on the origin story of Juneteenth, as told through the life of the woman most responsible for making it a national reality.
First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth tells the story of Opal Lee, who has come to be known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” The book recounts her life from growing up in segregated Texas through decades of community organizing and education, culminating in her long, persistent campaign to see emancipation formally recognized as a federal holiday.
Juneteenth, of course, marks June 19, 1865, the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of slavery, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It is often described as America’s second Independence Day, commemorating the moment freedom was finally enforced for the last enslaved people in the Confederacy.
For many today, Juneteenth might be little more than a pre-printed event on calendars or a paragraph in a textbook. This project aims to humanize and personalize the effort, to detail the dogged determination required to achieve formal, historical acknowledgement. Lee famously walked hundreds of miles to Washington, DC, while in her 80s and 90s, to keep the issue alive.
First Freedom is written by Angélique Roché, who conducted in-person interviews with Lee and worked closely with her family. Visually, the story is handled by a small team of artists, including Alvin Epps, Bex Glendining, and Millicent Monroe, with colors by Damali Beatty.
The timeline of the story runs through to June 2021, when Juneteenth was finally signed into law as a federal holiday by President Biden, with Lee present at the White House. That moment is well documented in news photographs, but the book’s framing emphasizes the personal passion and effort that went into it.
Besides telling the story of Juneteenth, First Freedom raises questions about how civic history is remembered, and who controls that memory. Comics are especially good at conveying long arcs of effort and mythic determination, the unglamorous grind required to effect change, something that rarely survives in official narratives.
First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth has been released during Black History Month.
Here are a few pages from the book.
