Taylor Swift is marking Juneteenth by giving her staff the day off, campaigning for it to be made a federal holiday

Juneteenth — or Freedom Day — commemorates the moment when slavery was brought to an official end in the US. On June 19 of 1865, a full two-and-half years following Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Confederate states surrendered and the proclamation was slowly put into action across the country. In other words, it’s an epic cause for celebration, and yet Juneteenth doesn’t have a place on the calendar of federal holidays. Now Taylor Swift has joined the many voices calling for Juneteenth to gain a broader, official recognition — one that is sanctioned by Washington.Swift shared a video from The Root on her Twitter account, explaining the significance of Juneteenth, the long fight for freedom, and the terrorism and intimidation tactics that continued to be used against Black people after the end of slavery. She also made it known that she’d be giving her staff the day off — this year and every year after.[video_embed id='1977257']RELATED: White House changes Tulsa rally from 'Juneteenth'[/video_embed]

Personally, I’ve made the decision to give all of my employees June 19th off in honor of Freedom Day from now on, and to continue to educate myself on the history that brought us to this present moment.

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 19, 2020

“For my family,” she wrote in a subsequent tweet, “everything that has transpired recently gives us an opportunity to reflect, listen, and reprogram any part of our lives that hasn’t been loudly and ferociously anti-racist, and to never let privilege lie dormant when it could be used to stand up for what’s right.”Juneteenth is currently recognized in the majority of states with Texas leading the way by declaring it a holiday in 1980. (It was there that a quarter of a million Black people were released from slavery back in 1865.) This year, in the wake of the protests sparked across the US, corporations like Twitter and Nike have given their employees the day off to reflect, learn, or celebrate with family — but without federal backing, places like banks, schools, and government-run workplaces in every state remain open.[video_embed id='1979612']BEFORE YOU GO: Jagmeet Singh removed from House of Commons after calling Bloc MP a racist[/video_embed]