SCHOOL PERFORMANCES:

AMERICAN HISTORY
THROUGH SONG AND STORY

Photo courtesy of Kentucky Educational Television

JAMES "SPARKY" RUCKER was once a teacher in Chattanooga near his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, and he has been performing for over forty years. He has over twelve recordings, including one for children. His educational performances have included teacher workshops at the Kennedy Center, the D.C. Teacher Center, the 18th Annual International Children's Festival, and the Southeast Institute for Education in Music.

His wife, RHONDA RUCKER, accompanies him with harmonica, banjo, rhythmic bones, and back-up vocals, and is featured on Sparky's last six recordings. SPARKY AND RHONDA performed for the Old Music for New Ears educational series for Kentucky Educational Television and for Storytelling in North America, a National Geographic Society educational media project.

Sparky & Rhonda's brand of teaching is different from the usual classroom style. They weave music into captivating stories that the history books don’t always tell. For instance, they might explain that the slave owners banned the drum since the slaves could use it to communicate, and then go on to show students how the slaves used their own bodies as a substitute for the drum when they played the "hambone." The Ruckers might demonstrate how the slaves would also play the bones or the spoons as a substitute for the drum. They might discuss the African origin of the banjo, or they might explain that the Yellow Rose of Texas was really a light-skinned female slave who learned of General Santa Anna’s plans for the Battle of San Jacinto and passed this information to Sam Houston.

Because of their imaginative approach to teaching history, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker are popular performers in schools, colleges, and universities nationwide. The Ruckers' educational program, entitled Heroes and Hard Times: American History Through Song and Story, includes songs and stories relating to slavery, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, the westward migration, the birth of the blues, and the Civil Rights Movement.

The program is geared to the age and experience of the audience, and can be given for kindergarten through college grade levels. The length of the program is from 40 minutes for the youngest children to 50 minutes for older audiences. For more complete descriptions of this program for specific grade levels, as well as information on standards of learning, click on the link below.

Presentations of the following historical programs are also available to schools for grades 3 and up by special arrangement:

• Following the North Star (Slavery and the Underground Railroad)

• The Blue & Gray in Black and White (American Civil War)

• The Buffalo, Eagle, and the Silver Spur (Settling of the West told through the eyes of the minorities)

• Freedom is a Constant Struggle (American Civil Rights Movement)

For more information about the above historical programs, go to the following page:
SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Sparky & Rhonda also give teacher in-service training programs and provide valuable resource lists to help teachers augment multicultural education.

Technical Requirements: Sound system with 4 microphones (one vocal and one instrument for Sparky; one vocal and one instrument for Rhonda), each on a floor-length stand.