DENTON, Texas — Opal Lee has another title to add to her portfolio.
The 96-year-old activist famously known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth" received a honorary doctorate from the University of North Texas during the school's spring 2023 commencement ceremonies over the weekend.
It's also the same school where she got her masters degree in education back in 1963 when the school was called North Texas State University.
The Fort Worth native has received numerous accolades for her work in turning June 19, or Juneteenth, into a federal holiday. Her dream became a reality when President Joe Biden signed a bill into law in 2021 to recognize that holiday on the national level.
Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to let the last group of enslaved Black people know they were free. It came two months after the Confederacy surrendered and over two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
For her civil rights activism, Lee was also recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in October 2022. She was among 343 candidates to win the coveted award.
She was nominated after a letter signed by members of the U.S. Congress was sent to the Nobel Prize committee. Congressman Marc Veasey of Fort Worth shared the letter.
Lee is also working to open a National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth. Demolition began at the site back in March but funds are still being raised.
Lee received her honorary doctorate on Sunday and joined more than 6,700 UNT students who celebrated their graduations over the weekend, according to the school.