Saturday the nation came together to celebrate Juneteenth.
It's a day marking the emancipation of slaves in the United States.
Over the decades, Black communities have observed the holiday with festive family gatherings, parades and barbeques.
As of Thursday, Juneteenth is a federal holiday. Central Georgia held several celebrations.
The Freedom Festival at the Douglas Theater in downtown Macon, and the Freedom Day Festival in Perry were just some of what happened on the holiday.
Here are some of the things people said.
"It helps celebrate the end of slavery, and freedom for Blacks."
"It means a lot to me, because of my family heritage."
"It presses our Black history, and the freedom of the Black people."
Gerald Clover, Karmen Hill, and Jerome Ryans were a few out of many in attendance at Macon's Juneteenth Freedom Festival on Saturday afternoon.
Hundreds of people flocked in and out of the Douglas Theatre to support local Black vendors, and spelling bee participants -- all in honor of Juneteenth.
"We want to be apart of whatever we can to help spread the word about what's going on with our race, in our country, in our city," Clover said.
Gerald Clover and Laville Jackson are hosts of the Light Live internet radio station in Macon.
They were vendors at the Freedom Festival.
"By me being apparent and having children, I think it's so important for us to continue to teach this," Jackson said.
Jackson says she just recently began learning about Juneteenth.
RELATED: Juneteenth celebration held in Perry
So did attendee Dara Oni.
"I never really understood how important Juneteenth was, because when people would say it, I'd be like, 'okay, well it's not a holiday so,'" Oni said.
But as of Thursday it is. Oni says it's long overdue.
"I saw people online saying, 'why do we need two independence days?' Well, one of the independence days is for one group of people," Oni said.
Oni says she wishes people would have stressed the importance of Juneteenth more in classrooms.
"I'm thinking it's time... it's been time, but as long as it did happen," Jackson said. "I think this is something to give us momentum to keep on doing what they did. I want my ancestors to be proud of me."
And Jackson says this is just the start.
Oni says Juneteenth is more than just a holiday, and that she hopes more people are willing to learn about its meaning.