School attendance and subway ridership appeared normal Friday despite the "Day of Absence," which black leaders had called to mark the anniversary when Texas slaves learned two years late that they were free.
Spot checks in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago showed that few people observed the "Juneteenth" anniversary when Americans were urged to stay home to protest the Rodney King verdict two months ago in Los Angeles."Many people, even though they will go to work, are in solidarity," said the Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. "They have to go to get paid, but their heart and soul are with us."
Black leaders, including Jesse Jackson, had called for a national day of protest June 19, urging people to stay home from work, stay off the subways, not spend money and keep their children out of school.
Juneteenth is the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when slaves in Texas received word of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, more than two years after slaves were freed nationwide.
The observation was called for to protest the acquittal April 29 of white Los Angeles police officers for the videotaped beating of King, a black motorist.