- Commissioner says Juneteenth will be company-wide holiday
- 19 June commemorates abolition of enslaved Africans in US
- NFL pledged $250m fund to social justice causes on Thursday
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in an internal memo to staff that the league will recognize 19 June, popularly known as Juneteenth, as a permanent company-wide holiday in support of racial diversity.
Juneteenth commemorates the abolition of slavery by Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was belatedly announced in the state of Texas on 19 June 1865, after the end of the Civil War.