Bethal Garden in McAllen held a ceremony Monday morning to celebrate Juneteenth.

One Valley woman says she will spend the day teaching people about the holiday. Dee Lopez has lived in the RGV for 25 years and is part of the Juneteenth committee in Edinburg.

Lopez says she wants to share with others what she's learned about the history of Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865.

Texas has celebrated the date since the late 70s, but it was only declared a Federal holiday by President Joe Biden two years ago in 2021.

Lopez says not everybody knows the history or why it's celebrated.

"It's very important to help others who are not part of the African American community to understand the importance of Juneteenth, to understand the contribution that Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth, made to our country. And how we're all one people celebrating on Juneteenth," Lopez said.

Juneteenth is a combination of June and nineteenth. It honors the day in 1865 when 2,000 Union troops marched to Galveston Bay and read the emancipation proclamation. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the executive order that marked the end of slavery two years earlier.

The annual Juneteenth celebration was held at the Texas Historic Bethel Garden on Monday morning.