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Twitter and Square to Make Juneteenth a Company Holiday

Twitter and Square to Make Juneteenth a Company Holiday

(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Inc. and Square Inc. will observe Juneteenth or June 19 as a company holiday going forward to commemorate the ending of slavery in the U.S., according to a tweet from Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of both companies.

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 when Union Major General Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation to African-Americans in Texas declaring an end to slavery.

In a follow-up tweet, Dorsey noted that other countries and regions have their own days to celebrate emancipation from slavery and that Square and Twitter operating in those places would work toward making those dates company holidays there, too.

Juneteenth is not a national holiday in the U.S., though activists in the country are pushing for wider recognition.

Separately, Vox Media has declared Juneteenth as a company holiday, according to a tweet from a Wall Street Journal reporter, citing a company memo.

Last month, Apple Inc. said it would match employee donations to groups challenging racial injustice for the month of June in honor of the Juneteenth holiday.

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