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Nike, Twitter, Postmates among companies offering paid Juneteenth holiday for employees

By Brianna Chambers, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Nike Q2 Sales Rise 10 Percent As Air Jordan Brand Soars To $1 Billion Quarter A Nike logo is seen at the Nike flagship store on 5th Ave. on December 20, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

By Brianna Chambers, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Nike announced Thursday it’s joining the growing list of companies that will observe Juneteenth as a companywide holiday.

Juneteenth, or June 19, marks the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas and other parts of the U.S. learned that they had been granted freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier. According to reports, many former slaves did not know that they were technically free because slave owners were not motivated to enforce the rule, especially since it was enacted by Abraham Lincoln, and many slaveholding states had left the Union. Plus, news traveled slowly in the 1860s.

Today, Juneteenth is celebrated as a state holiday in all U.S. states except Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. It is not considered a federal holiday.

Juneteenth: What to know about the holiday that celebrates slavery’s end

“At Nike, Inc., we aspire to be a leader in building a diverse, inclusive team and culture. We want to be better than society as a whole,” CEO John Donahoe told employees Thursday. “When we say that Black Lives Matter, it applies to the world outside of Nike and, importantly, it applies to our Black teammates within Nike. Simply put, we need to hold ourselves to a high standard given the heritage of our company and our brand.”

Donahoe said he hopes observing Juneteenth will grant Nike employees and fans "an important opportunity to better commemorate and celebrate Black history and culture.”

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and merchant services company Square, announced Tuesday that both companies will observe June 19 as a company holiday.

“Countries and regions around the world have their own days to celebrate emancipation, and we will do the work to make those dates company holidays everywhere we are present,” he wrote on Twitter.

Dorsey said the day would be a day for “celebration, education and connection” forevermore. He also encouraged other companies to follow suit.

Adobe, BuzzFeed, makeup company Glossier, Mastercard, Lyft, Postmates and VSCO also publicly committed to observing Juneteenth.

Here is a list of other companies that are taking the same action.

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