Twitter is Celebrating the Abolition of Slavery

Jack Dorsey, the CEO and founder of Twitter, has declared June 19 as a holiday with the company. He does so in tribute to the Emancipation Proclamation, an 1862 U.S.

President Abraham Lincoln decision that freed millions of black people in the U.S. from slavery a year later.

Dorsey said on Twitter that his site, along with Square, a mobile payments company, will hold a corporate holiday every year for “Celebration, Education, and Connection.”

In the US, the end of slavery is celebrated on June 19. Many Americans consider that occasion the second day of independence.

Dorsey’s announcement comes as people flock to the streets in the U.S. to argue against police brutality against black Americans and racism after George Floyd’s death.

Social media companies have expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.