Celebrated on June 19th, the holiday known as “Juneteenth” commemorates the emancipation of African-American slaves in the United States. The day marks when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure all enslaved people be freed, because slavery in Texas continued after the 13th Amendment was passed by the US Senate. Juneteenth has long been celebrated in Black American culture, and in 2021, President Joe Biden formally marked Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Over the last few years, momentum around the holiday has built up, with companies launching programming to recognize the holidays. Now that is has been marked as a federal holiday, more organizations are putting together plans to honor it. Black Americans have celebrated the day by having barbecues with family and friends, shopping at Black-owned businesses, and consuming Black art. Here are some resources on the background of Juneteenth, and other ways to celebrate it. Below are examples of what some Seramount member organizations are doing to commemorate the day in 2022:
- Allstate Insurance Company will observe Juneteenth as an annual company holiday.
- Capital One recognizes Juneteenth as an official holiday and will continue to have planned activities hosted by VOICES, Capital One’s Black BRG, and the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging team.
- The Estée Lauder Companies will commemorate the date with a day off for reflection, preceded by an education moment or event led by their Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Center of Excellence.
- In recognition and honor of Juneteenth, Experian will recognize the day as a new, additional US company holiday.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland will observe Monday, June 20, 2022 as a Bank holiday because Juneteenth 2022 falls on a Sunday. Their African-American Resource Network Group (STAAR) will provide information leading up to the Juneteenth federal holiday and the Bank will have social media postings.
- Howmet Aerospace will be highlighting the background of Juneteenth and asking employees to use their holiday to develop awareness of racism challenges.
- Mailchimp will observe the holiday and encourage employees to use the time off as an opportunity to give back to the community.
- Moody’s will have a US company-paid holiday.
- Juneteenth will be marked as a US company holiday at MongoDB. The executive team and ERG for people of color will raise awareness on why Juneteenth is being celebrated via a communications campaign leading up to the holiday.
