East Aiken School of the Arts' cafeteria buzzed with voices from history Friday morning.
At the school's eighth Living Wax Museum, fifth-graders in period costumes came to life to tell the stories of famous figures from politics, science, business, literature, invention and entertainment all at the press of a button.
Wearing one of his trademark jumpsuits and holding a guitar, Elvis Presley sang, “I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love” and told how he became the King of Rock 'n' Roll to students, family members and friends of the school.
With his bushy, black mustache and leather vest, Bass Reeves, the first African-American U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River, told how he arrested more than 3,000 felons in the Oklahoma Territory.
Rosa Parks explained how her act of civil disobedience on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 made her the first lady of the civil rights movement.
“Adventures Through History” was the theme for this year's Wax Museum, and in addition to well-known historical figures, students selected lesser-known people whose names might not make it into history books, said Erin Joehnk, who teaches fifth-grade English language arts and social studies.
“We have Benjamin Davis and John Herrington and other people whom you might not know as well as Rosa Parks or Franklin Roosevelt. Trying to pull in some new people has been fun this year for the students,” Joehnk said.
Davis was an American Air Force general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American general officer in the Air Force. Born into the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, Herrington is a former NASA astronaut and, in 2002, became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space.
Students started researching their characters using the internet and print materials just before Christmas break. Next, they wrote a monologue and memorized it to recite when museum visitors touched the red buttons on the top of their hands to bring their characters to life. They also wrote an essay and created a poster for their presentations.
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