Many employers recognize ‘Juneteeth’ as company holiday

Friday, June 19, marks “Juneteeth,” a day that recognizes the end of slavery in the U.S.

Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19 that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.

More companies are now beginning to recognize this as a paid holiday. Those companies include Target, Nike, Uber and Lyft.

This Juneteenth, which occurs days after the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre, will perhaps be the most widely celebrated in history.

With major corporations including Google, Twitter and Target adding Juneteeth as a paid holiday and New York and Virginia moving to make the day a paid civic holiday, Juneteeth is finally finding mainstream adoption.

It is also being used as a platform for racial-justice activism, with protesters planning demonstrations across the country in commemoration of the holiday. That’s fitting, given the historical line that connects Juneteenth, to Tulsa, to today’s protests.

Juneteenth began on June 19, 1865, when a detachment of Union troops led by long-bearded, buccaneering Gen. Gordon Granger arrived on the Texas island of Galveston with the news of slavery’s end.

They marched through sandy country roads of the town, announcing to the enslaved African Americans that they were finally free, more than two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

As the word spread, black Galvestonians spontaneously gathered in streets, in church houses, in fields, and cheered, waved flags, and danced with tears of joy streaming down their faces. Every year following, locals came together on June 19 to re-enact Granger’s announcement, be together, and rejoice.