The black community celebrated Juneteenth in the Rio Grande Valley. Some took the time to talk about what the holiday means to them.

"We are one race, the human race," Brownsville resident Maureen Rattray said.

That's the message Valley communities are spreading, as they celebrate Juneteenth.

"It doesn't matter what color you are, we are brothers and sisters," Rattray said.

Although Blacks make up less than a percent of the Valley's population, according to RGV Health Connect, they say the Valley is home.

Rakaylveia Stokely and her family moved to Edinburg in 2019 from Florida.

"We've never, ever heard of McAllen Texas, Edinburg and I can tell you right now that God sent my family here," Stokely said.

Stokely says celebrating Black culture here in the Valley is valuable for her sons.

"It celebrated Black culture, it celebrated the struggle, the adversity, everything that we experienced during a time when we were just expected to accept the status quo. We stood, and we rose above it," Stokely said.

Rising above it was one of the themes of Brownsville's Juneteenth gala…

Rattray has lived in Brownsville for nearly 30 years. She moved here from Jamaica and fell in love with the Valley.

"This has been a place for me that has signified warmth, and love and the coming together of different races," Rattray said.

Coming together in unity is the message Pastor Donald Hamm preached about Juneteenth.

"I don't believe our country is as divided as some make it seem, we're not that divided. We are all the same people. I believe that as long as we learn to enjoy and to accept each other's cultures, I think what a better society we'll have," Hamm said.

The celebrations aren't just about the trauma Black people have had to endure in the past.

"Not about the past always, but the excellence and the future that we are headed towards," Hamm said.

158 years later, Juneteenth is now a Federal holiday aimed at acknowledging and celebrating how far we've come.