On Opal Lee's 100th birthday, demolition makes way for the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth

Ms. Opal Lee walked for years to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. On her 100th birthday, she'll watch another dream begin to take shape.

Demolition of the Southside Community Center is set to begin Wednesday morning, clearing the way for construction of the National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth's historic Southside.

And museum leaders say the timing worked out great.

"Quite frankly, the demolition of this building is a birthday present to Ms. Opal for her 100th birthday," National Juneteenth Museum CEO Jarred Howard told CBS News Texas.

The old building must come down for a new story to rise.

National Juneteenth Museum takes major step forward

The planned $70 million museum has been years in the making.

CBS News Texas previously reported that the Fort Worth City Council approved the demolition of the Southside Community Center at New York and Rosedale Streets to make way for the project. 

Howard said the campaign is now about 70% funded.

The roughly 50,000-square-foot development is envisioned as more than a museum. Plans include a business incubator, a food hall and a theater — an investment designed to preserve history while generating economic activity in the neighborhood.

"When you talk about culture, when you talk about economics, when you talk about food, it's all going to be reflected here," Howard said. "And centers like this are rare across the country."

The location carries a history of its own.

Fort Worth's Southside was once a thriving center of Black culture and commerce.

Museum leaders see the project as a catalyst for bringing new investment, visitors and jobs to the neighborhood. 

For Howard, the connection is personal.

"Southeast Fort Worth is my home," he said.

The Southside Community Center also served generations of residents, including as a popular voting location. Now its demolition makes room for what museum leaders hope will become the nation's epicenter for telling the Juneteenth story.

Opal Lee's dream comes closer to reality on her 100th birthday

That story is inseparable from Lee.

Known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," the retired Fort Worth educator spent years walking 2.5 miles to symbolize the roughly 2.5 years between the Emancipation Proclamation and June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston learned they were free.

Lee's campaign eventually took her from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., and she stood beside President Joe Biden when Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. 

Now, at 100, the woman who walked to preserve the history of freedom gets to see walls come down for a museum dedicated to telling it.

Michelle Obama joins Opal Lee's 100th birthday celebration

The milestone will extend beyond the construction site.

Former first lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to appear on Wednesday at the Fort Worth Convention Center as part of the National Juneteenth Museum's Uniting Voices Speaker Series and Lee's centennial celebration.  Obama will celebrate Lee's decades of advocacy while raising support for the museum. 

Howard said people from about 20 states are expected to travel to Fort Worth for the event.

"We are thrilled about having the former First Lady join us," Howard said. "I cannot express the level of excitement that I have."

For the museum, the celebration is also about sustaining what comes next.

"We've made a lot of promises to the people that are stakeholders, to the people in this community," Howard said. "We don't want to disappoint. The good thing is we're not going to disappoint."

For nearly a century, Lee has pushed people to remember what happened when freedom finally reached Texas.

On her 100th birthday, a facility to house that journey begins.