Programs from the closed Southside Community Center reopen Monday, Oct. 5, in a new home: the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods, which the City Council has renamed the Southside Community Center at Hazel Harvey Peace.
The council approved the new name at its Sept. 29 meeting, according to the city. The original Southside Community Center closed Aug. 28, and its programs and services began moving to the Hazel Harvey Peace building on Oct. 1.
The city said the move keeps those services running while clearing the way for long-term plans on the old property, where the National Juneteenth Museum is planned.
A grand opening for the relocated center is set for Wednesday, Oct. 7. The city timed it to coincide with the 100th birthday of Opal Lee and a ceremonial kickoff for building the museum on the old Southside grounds.
A full day on Oct. 7
Lee, the Fort Worth educator and activist widely called the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," turns 100 that day. She led Opal's Walk 2 DC in 2016, a walk of two and a half miles meant to evoke the two and a half years it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn they were free, CultureMap Fort Worth reported.
Earlier in the day, the National Juneteenth Museum will hold "Clearing the Way," a ceremony at the future museum site to mark that the old community center has been cleared and that work is moving toward building the museum's permanent home.
