Juneteenth Programming Guide
Why should you pause to honor Juneteenth? Celebrating employees’ racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds can be crucial to building psychological safety and enhancing employee engagement.
Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Celebrated each year on June 19th (although the designated public holiday may be celebrated a day earlier or later), its date signifies June 19, 1865, when the Union Army entered Galveston, Texas and informed the enslaved people there that slavery had been abolished.
In 2021, Juneteenth became a federally-recognized holiday. Historically, it has been celebrated on the third Saturday of June – a date which always falls in the teens – and hence the name, Juneteenth.
