Birmingham City Council honors 90-year-old Civil Rights foot soldier
The Birmingham City Council held its regular meeting today, which featured an appearance by Opal Lee, a nearly 90-year-old Civil Rights Movement-era activist from Ft. Worth, Texas, who was making a stop in Birmingham during her walk from her hometown to Washington, D.C., where she hopes to meet with President Obama and urge him to help make Juneteenth a federal holiday.
Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. It also marks the emancipation of African-American slaves throughout the Confederate South.
Lee, who was named an honorary citizen of the city and recognized by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, is also pushing a national drive to collect signatures on a petition to create the holiday. Juneteenth is already observed in about 45 states, she said.
Lee, a retired schoolteacher, told the (Ft. Worth) Star-Telegram in August that she planned to walk 10 miles a day draw support for her petition.
The emancipation of the slaves is historically important not only for African-Americans, according to Lee. She noted that many white people – including those involved with the Underground Railroad – helped do away with slavery.
“Juneteenth is not a black thing,” she said. “It’s an everybody thing.”
“We need to know that none of us are free until we’re all free,” she said. “There is too much joblessness and hunger and uneducated people. These are things that we have to address. As much change as I’ve seen in my 90 years, there is much to be done, and seeing Juneteenth as a national holiday is one of those things I’d like to see happen.”
After her visit to Birmingham, Lee’s next stops on her estimated 1,400-mile journey will be Tuskegee and Atlanta. She will celebrate her 90th birthday on Friday.
For more information about her efforts, go to opalswalk2dc.com.
Lighting up the Crossplex
A new commercial development near the Birmingham Crossplex in Five Points West got a boost today when the Birmingham City Council voted unanimously to pay Alabama Power about $323,000 to install 63 new street lights to help support the project.
Birmingham developer Bob Nesbitt, a former banker, received approval from the council earlier this year to begin developing about 40 acres on Bessemer Road near the city-owned Crossplex for retail, offices, entertainment, apartments and other uses.
The lighting is part of an overall infrastructure package for the Crossplex, according to City Engineer Andre Bittas.
Alabama Power was the lowest bidder on the project, according to the text of the resolution.
Other business
The council voted to spend $3,300 to purchase a piece of property at 5127 Civic Circle for use as a park for the Liberty Highlands neighborhood.
The council approved an expenditure of about $4,600 to the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel for the annual Domestic Violence Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the Birmingham Police Department and scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 6. October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The event, which the BPD hosts with other partners – including the YWCA and the Alabama Department of Human Resources – is held each year “to address and bring attention to domestic violence in the city,” said Deputy Chief Jamal McCaskey