NEW ORLEANS, La. (WDSU) —The New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans have declared Juneteenth a paid holiday for employees.
The announcement was made Wednesday by franchise officials.
The holiday announcement comes after owner Gayle Benson, who owns both franchises, pledged her support to players calling for social justice and equal rights.
Juneteenth is this Friday. It is a holiday celebrated by African Americans, also known as Jubilee Day, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
According to Juneteenth.com, June 19, 1865, Gen. Gordon Granger arrived with Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas, and announced to enslaved Africans Americans that the Civil War had ended and they were free which was more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
By: WDSU Digital Team
