Hello team,
One of our company’s objectives is to consistently strive to build a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and engaged culture. I’d like to remind everyone that, as a company, we offer a floating holiday so team members can take PTO to observe a day that is meaningful to them.
On behalf of the eHealth Technologies leadership team and our organization’s DEI Committee, I’d like to take the opportunity to celebrate an upcoming important annual holiday that serves as a major turning point in our country’s history – Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War, has been celebrated by African Americans since the late 1800s.
President Biden signed legislation in 2021 that made Juneteenth, which falls on June 19, a federal holiday, after interest in the day was renewed during the summer of 2020 and the nationwide protests that followed the police killings of Black Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
There has been a noticeable increase in Juneteenth celebrations across the United States over the past few years. Here’s a brief guide to Juneteenth.
How did Juneteenth begin?
On June 19, 1865, about two months after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, Gordon Granger, a Union general, arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. General Granger’s announcement put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued more than two and a half years earlier, on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln.
The holiday is also called “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day.”
How is it celebrated?
Early celebrations involved prayer and family gatherings, and later included annual pilgrimages to Galveston by formerly enslaved people and their families, according to Juneteenth.com.
In 1872, a group of African American ministers and businessmen in Houston purchased 10 acres of land and created Emancipation Park which was intended to hold the city’s annual Juneteenth celebration.
Today, while some celebrations take place among families in backyards where food is an integral element, some cities, like Atlanta and Washington, hold larger events, including parades and festivals with residents, local businesses and more.
This is not just a holiday that is fixed and has one meaning. It has a multiplicity of meanings to people of African descent in the United States. They also see it as relevant to Africa, the Caribbean, and any other places where there’s an African diasporic community. It’s a continuous struggle, a continuous fight, and a continuous place of remembrance.
Click here for more ways to celebrate and honor this important annual holiday in your hometown.
If you have any questions about Juneteenth, please feel free to reach out to our DEI Committee at DEI@eHealthTechnologies.com. And, if you decide you’d like to use Juneteenth as your floating holiday, please submit the request to your manager as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Dan