From Twitter to Best Buy, brands are tapped into Juneteenth. Companies look to the holiday to advance racial justice

Juneteenth is one of the oldest public commemorations of the end of slavery in the US. Also called Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, or Liberation Day, Juneteenth is recognized annually on June 19 and has been celebrated by many Black Americans, starting back in Texas in 1866.

• Corporations are turning attention to Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of US slavery
• Some companies gave employess the day off or a 'day of reflection' before becoming a federal holiday
• Consumers have called for more diversity and inclusion for employees of color in the workforce

• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The date marks when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned from Major General Gordon Granger in 1865 that they had been freed two years prior, under the Emancipation Proclamation outlawing US slavery signed by President Abraham Lincoln signed on January 1, 1863.

The movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday gained momentum in 2020, moving to the forefront of mainstream conversation on the heels of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day.

Floyd's killing sparked national and global Black Lives Matter protests calling out racial injustice and police brutality against Black Americans.

As a response, a number of large companies announced a plethora of ways they would commemorate the day, including giving their employees paid time off, as a way to show solidarity with the Black community.

"To celebrate Juneteenth is to know Black history, and it's also to know American history," Dalana Brand, Twitter's vice president of people experience and head of inclusion and diversity, told Insider.

Some companies, such as Google didn't give their employees time off last year but instead used the day for learning and reflection. Others like Altria announced a company-wide paid "Day of Healing." Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford Motor had a moment of silence.

Droves of major companies turning their attention to a holiday African Americans have been advocating for over the years was no coincidence.

Consumers have called diversity and inclusion marginalized groups in the workforce

Over the years, the public has been calling for more diversity and inclusion, and more opportunities for marginalized people in the workforce.

Women and minorities are still underrepresented in leadership positions and at least 85% of top executive positions are held by white people, according to a report on CNBC.

Businesses like Amazon and Microsoft have been called out for their lack of diversity and systematic racism, even during a time when Black people were being consistently brutalized.

Social media also played a key role in pushing businesses that still had fewer people of color on their boards, C-suites, and the rest of the workplace.

As the fight for racial justice came to a head in 2020, tired Americans began taking a stance against companies and Juneteenth was right around the corner.

Twitter and Square became some of the first of the larger companies to announce they would make Juneteenth a paid holiday, a trend that was quickly followed by other companies such as Mastercard, Nike, Spotify, NFL, Target, and Best Buy.

CEO Jack Dorsey announced at the time that they would make Juneteenth a permanent company holiday for "celebration, education, and connection".

Executives tell Insider making Juneteenth a company holiday is essential for racial equality

On Juneteenth 2020, the company used the day to elevate Black voices and their Tweets as a means of celebrating and educating people on Black joy, Brand said, by erecting billboards throughout cities that were at the center of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"If you can change people's hearts and minds to accept at their core that all people should be treated equally and deserve the same opportunities in life," Brand told Insider. "You can address so many of the social justice issues we face today like racism, oppression, poverty, etc."

Brand added that Twitter has always been a place that grows community partnerships and fosters open conversations, which made it easy for them to immediately put support systems in place after the tragic events last year.

"What was reinforced for us through this process, is that you can't start conversations and decide to show support when tragic events strike," she said. "You have to be committed to putting in the work in good times and bad. The deep community partnerships and our internal business resource groups allowed us to be there for each other and strengthen as a community."

Twitter is one of a few companies that have been publicly making commitments to increase diversity in its company. Earlier this year, after the release of its diversity and inclusion report, the company made a commitment to increase its number of minority and women executives by 2025. About 6.5% of Twitter employees are Black while 41% are white.

You can't start conversations and decide to show support when tragic events strike. You have to be committed to putting in the work in good times and bad. Dalana Brand, Twitter

Even big-box companies began to face intense scrutiny last year about the lack of racial diversity in their workforce amidst the visible and vocal Black Lives Matter movement.

Best Buy is another company that saw an opportunity to address its less vocal stance on racial injustice in the US, and last June vowed to do better.

Last Juneteenth Best Buy used the day as a "paid volunteer day," deciding to introduce an annual holiday for employees from 2021. The company made the choice to begin the paid holiday this year instead as a result of the changes being made only a few days before June 19 in 2020.

Mark Irvin, chief inclusion, diversity, and talent officer, told Insider, "Juneteenth has long been an important day for the Black American community, but it hasn't had the awareness or recognition it deserves among the other holidays we celebrate."

"With this in mind," he continued, "it's really important for us to recognize its significance with our employees and offer them an opportunity to celebrate, reflect or give back."

Companies told Insider Juneteenth is just one step toward racial equity in the workforce

Juneteenth was just one step to addressing racial inequality. By August, the company announced that they were committed to hiring more diverse employees to their technology team over the next two years - specifically Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and women.

Best Buy also announced a five-year plan that includes filling one out of three new non-hourly corporate positions with BIPOC employees and filling one out of three new, non-hourly field roles with women.

"We know it's incredibly important to our employees, customers, and communities to show that we are committed to doing all we can to further economic and social justice," Corie said in a statement. "In many ways, we have engaged in these issues for years - but now we're being bold about our commitments to hold ourselves accountable for this work we've promised to do."

Corporate social responsibility in the form of addressing racial injustice offline and online is at the forefront of company agendas in the coming years.

With Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, companies won't be able to use this platform to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion by selectively providing employees with paid time off.

As consumers continue to become more vocal about their needs from companies, and boycotts and racial activism increase, companies are often forced to change directions.

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