Family members working together at Alaska is more common than you think. But what’s rare is being related to someone who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Teria B., a customer service agent in Austin, Texas and Erica B., a flight attendant based in Portland, Oregon, are cousins and part of a large family—consisting of about 500-600 people—including Dr. Opal Lee, a retired teacher, counselor and activist, and is often regarded as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her help in making it a federal holiday.

Opal is also Teria and Erica’s oldest cousin at 96 years old and still attends family reunions, but she doesn’t expect a red carpet to roll out for her.

The journey to make Juneteenth a national holiday

For more than 40 years, Opal worked to push leaders to commemorate Juneteenth as a national holiday. In 1999, Opal had the idea to start an annual Juneteenth walk – 2.5 miles long – to represent the two and half years it took for the news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Texas. Teria and Erica remember Opal’s perseverance in the early days of launching these walks.

Year after year, the walk’s attendance grew. In 2016 — 17 years after the first event — Opal embarked on her biggest challenge yet. At 89 years young, she started a four-month 1,400-mile walking campaign from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Congress to make Juneteenth a national holiday and launched an online petition that garnered 1.6 million signatures.

The recognition of Juneteenth as a holiday is seen as an opportunity to recognize and educate people about the history of slavery and the ongoing struggle for racial equality. It also serves as a reminder of the progress made and the work that still needs to be done to address the legacy of racism and ensure a more just and inclusive society.

“What opened my eyes was the time during Covid and the George Floyd incident happened. I think for a lot of Americans, it was the time to sit down and see what’s really going on,” said Teria. “I believe that time was kind of the catalyst for Juneteenth to be really recognized and what it was that Opal has been saying all these years. I think her voice was louder and more heard during that time in our nation.”

In 2021, at the age of 94, Opal’s resilience and determination paid off. On June 17, 2021, she stood alongside President Joe Biden as he signed the Juneteenth Independence Day Act into law, making Juneteenth an official federal holiday.

It was a jubilant day, and while they couldn’t be with Opal in D.C., the family hopped on a conference call and watched the voting results.

“It was a wonderful experience to have the whole family connected, even across different cities and countries, at the same time as she’s in D.C. getting a pen that was signed for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday,” said Teria.

A painful memory from the past becomes a full-circle moment

There are many stories Opal has shared with Erica and Teria over the years, but one in particular impacted both of them. On June 19, 1939—yes, Juneteenth—a racist mob vandalized and burned down Opal’s family house in Fort Worth, Texas.

“She was 12 years old at the time, so that had to have been a very traumatic experience for a young child and life-impacting,” said Erica.

Opal could have come away from that terrible day with a different outlook on life, but it stoked a fire within her to educate people and change things for the better.

In an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2020, Opal said, “The fact that it happened on the 19^th day of June has spurred me to make people understand that Juneteenth is not just a festival.”

What Juneteenth means to our employees

Juneteenth reminds us of the progress made and work that remains to ensure a more just and inclusive society where everyone belongs and has opportunity. Hear a poem written and narrated by Poet Jamaar Smiley, who worked with Alaska Air Group Black Employees, Allies and Advocates, or ABEA, an employee-led business resource group for Black employees.

Cultivating a culture of belonging and connection is a prime focus at Alaska Airlines. Whether it’s safely connecting people across the world or within our company through BRGs, we are committed to creating an equitable workplace for all. Our BRGs provide spaces for employees to connect and champion the diverse workforce and cultures represented here at Alaska and Horizon.

Each year, Aviation Day draws thousands of young people to explore careers at Alaska and Horizon Air, Alaska’s regional airline. At Aviation Day, youth have the opportunity to meet pilots, flight attendants, engineers, technicians, air traffic controllers and first responders and see an up close view of different types of aircraft. 

This year, which marked our 15th year of hosting Aviation Day, nearly 3,000 teens attended events in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco—for the very first time. Jaxon Dingel, who is deaf, was part of a group of students from the California School for the Deaf who had never considered a career in aviation until meeting some of our employees and realizing there is a place for him in the industry.

“Some of the Deaf can feel limited in their job choices, but Aviation Day really shows them they can have a high-paying job with great benefits,” said Dingel’s mother Heidi. “It doesn’t matter if you have a disability, there’s all kinds of opportunities.”

All of our Aviation Day events give students a unique & up-close opportunity to meet with our employees to hear about real-world experiences. Students get to sit in the flight deck of aircraft, inspect wheel wells and landing gear and speak with other industry professionals, including military and aerobatic aircraft pilots.

Captain Kim Gabrelcik, Alaska’s Chief Pilot in San Francisco and leader of this year’s Aviation Day at SFO, said if the event piqued the interest of at least one student, it was a success in her book.

Dingel left Aviation Day with plans to learn more about an aircraft mechanic career and had a profound experience meeting Alaska employees Ryan Di Giovanni and Darren Holness.

Ryan, a pilot crew scheduling duty manager, was also born deaf. Holness is hard of hearing and wears a hearing aid and cochlear implant. He has a hands-on job as an aircraft technician trainer and has been with Alaska since 2017. He says that even though having a disability can sometimes be challenging, he never gave up and hopes he can inspire others to do the same.

The most important thing is do not be discouraged, believe in yourself,” said Holness. “If you have a passion, pursue it.”

“The students who come to these events realize they can really do whatever they set their minds to,” Di Giovanni said. “It’s part of our culture at Alaska to be inclusive of people with all kinds of disabilities and backgrounds and I love that we get to do things like this for people in our communities.”

Dingel says he sees Ryan as a role model because he proves that the aviation industry is not just for the hearing and that the Deaf can do it as well.

Hiring the next generation of aviators

Building a strong aviation workforce is what enables safe and reliable operations. As we continue to grow and bring dozens of new airplanes into our fleet, we need thousands of people to join our team. This year, we plan to hire more than 3,500 new employees in a variety of roles and functions. From maintenance technicians to contact center agents, flight attendants to pilots, customer service agents to software engineers, we will have jobs available for anyone who wants to be part of our team.

Long-term demand for aviation jobs remains strong as Boeing estimates that 602,000 new pilots, 610,000 new maintenance technicians and 899,000 new cabin crew members will be needed to fly and maintain the global commercial fleet over the next 20 years.

“Diversity is also a priority for us,” said Neil Thwaites, Alaska Airlines regional vice president of California. “In 2022, women made up less than 10% of commercial pilots nationwide. That number is even more dire for Black female pilots, who make up only .5% of all pilots across the industry. We’re working to change that through programs like Aviation Day and our Ascend Pilot Program Academy.”

Last March, Alaska and Horizon teamed up with Hillsboro Aero Academy, a premier flight school in the Pacific Northwest, to launch the Ascend Pilot Academy (APA). This new development program, designed for aspiring pilots, provides a simpler, more financially accessible path to becoming a commercial pilot at Horizon and, eventually, Alaska. The program is part of a larger effort to address a growing pilot shortage and increased travel demand. 

In partnership with Hillsboro Aero, we expect to register and train up to 250 students a year. Additionally, our Ascend Pilot Academy aims to provide aspiring pilots with a more accessible path to becoming student pilots. Enrolled cadets will be eligible for access to financial aid and a stipend of up to $26,463 upon signing on to work for Horizon Air. 

“That’s why we’re here; to show that there’s another face to aviation and anyone can do this,” said Seattle Base Chief Pilot Ron Limes. “I’m sure some of these kids have never seen a female pilot and they see Kim today—or they’ve never seen a Black pilot and they see me today and they go, ‘Well, I can do that too.’ It sparks a dream.”