Vancouver Whitecaps FC players wore the club’s Unity jersey during team training on Friday to mark Juneteenth, the annual holiday that honours the abolition of slavery in the United States.
This year marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, when Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger traveled to Texas after the American Civil War and issued an order to liberate African American slaves on June 19, 1865. The historical event occurred two years after American President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, stating all slaves in the states were free. However, many slave owners held their slaves captive before Juneteenth.