Pulaski students honored in annual Juneteenth essay contest

Three Pulaski Street School students were honored in the school’s annual Juneteenth essay contest for their reflections on the meaning of emancipation.

Winners Ke’Lonni Matthews and Samirah Cuello, along with honorable mention recipient Carina Caputo, read their writing aloud in the school’s auditorium.

The students reflected on the meaning of Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Texas in 1865, by writing either poetry or prose.

President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021, but Pulaski Street fifth-graders have marked the event, celebrated every June 19, through the essay contest for nearly two decades. 

Robert “Bubbie” Brown of the East End Voters Coalition helped start the tradition, developing the idea during his time at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the late 1990s, when he first learned about Juneteenth commemorations.

Mr. Brown said the judges reviewed roughly 72 total entries this year. 

“They really get it, and that’s a compliment to the teachers,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s beautiful — just having three winners is a travesty.”