06/20/2026
On Juneteenth, we return to a powerful conversation conducted by Ro2 Art via Zoom on August 3, 2023, in conjunction with Lillian Young’s exhibition, The Problem with Archives: A Portrait Is Worth Our Words.
Presented as a companion exhibition to The Runways, the show honored Black elders through portraiture, testimony, and memory. Among those included was Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth, whose portrait was on view at Ro2 Art.
In conversation with Young, Ms. Opal reflected on history, education, and her 1,400-mile walk toward Washington, D.C., a symbolic journey honoring the two-and-a-half years it took for news of emancipation to reach enslaved people in Texas.
As she reminds us: “Juneteenth freed the people. The Fourth of July freed the land.”
The message still echoes: history is not distant. It lives in elders, archives, stories, silences, and the responsibility to carry truth forward.
If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love.
APortraitIsWorthOurWords TexasHistory BlackElders Juneteenth2023