Americans mark Juneteenth from coast to coast

Thousands marched in U.S. cities to mark Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of Black slavery that carries special resonance this year.

Gavino Garay has more.

Americans celebrated Juneteenth on Friday, a holiday commemorating the effective end of Black slavery on June 19th, 1865 - a day that carries special resonance this year after a wave of recent protests and national soul-searching about the country's legacy of racial injustice.

Thousands took to the streets in cities across the country, including New York City, LA, Chicago and D.C., where the Washington Wizards and Mystics men's and women's basketball teams marked the holiday and protested against police brutality.

Such protests have been triggered by the death of George Floyd and other recent killings of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police.

Major U.S. companies declared June 19 a paid holiday this year, some for the first time.

Uber declared Friday a paid day off and several banks closed branches or ended operations early.

A focal point of Juneteenth observances this year is Tulsa, Oklahoma, where President Donald Trump is set to visit on Saturday for his first campaign rally in months.

The Reverend Al Sharpton in Tulsa on Friday, slammed Trump and his plan to hold a rally there during such a sensitive time.

"I want him to tell folks tomorrow night.

When was America 'great'?

It was great for white men with property, but it wasn't even great for their wives.

It wasn't great for blacks and the indigenous... When he shows up tomorrow, rather than selling 'wolf tickets' to people he calls 'lowlifes' -- get up and explain when America was 'great'.

What date did that start?" Trump initially decided to hold the Tulsa rally on Juneteenth but, in an unusual move, he rescheduled it to Saturday, after public backlash over the plan to hold a rally in a city known for one of the nation's bloodiest incidents of racial violence.

In 1921, Tulsa was the scene of a notorious massacre of African Americans by white mobs.

No one was charged in the murders.