FORT WORTH, Texas — A huge donation is on the way to the National Juneteenth Museum putting it one more step closer to its groundbreaking goal.
"if everything goes according to plan, we will open at some point in 2026," National Juneteenth Museum CEO Jarred Howard said.
Howard is constantly in communication with Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth. Lee, 98. has made it clear she wants to see the museum come to fruition in her lifetime. She is still actively campaigning across Texas for the project too.
Jarred Howard and his team are in charge of raising money to build the Juneteenth National Museum. They just landed big money for the project. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, headquartered in Fort Worth, is donating $2 million to the museum.
The Fort Worth southside facility will be a 50,000-square-foot cultural center hosting guest lectures, community events and business incubators. Its center focus will be the historical June 19 celebration ending slavery.
"We are approaching that halfway point," Howard said about the fundraising campaign. "We are about $34 million of the $70 million campaign. The people who do this regularly tell me we are doing really well. It doesn't feel that way all the time,but to be at the halfway point after the year and a half that we started is pretty impressive."
Howard said he's confident about breaking ground for the museum sometime in 2024. Once the museum reaches its fundraising goal, the City of Forth Worth has already agreed to a $15 million dollar donation. Howard also talked about plans to beef up their campaign for any and everyone to donate to the campaign in amounts of 6.19 cents to $619,000.00 and beyond.
Once complete, people visiting the museum will know what companies like BNSF made donations to the project.
"As people come into the museum, they will see the BNSF name be exposed to the brand. But I don't think that's why BNSF does it, quite frankly. I can say that because I did spend 12 years there," said Howard, "They just want to be good stewards of the community in which they operate. So that's the benefit to them. If anything."
People interested in learning more about the National Juneteenth Museum can visit www.nationaljuneteenthmuseum.org
