Munford’s ‘wax museum’ a lesson in history

With the push of a button, Harriet Tubman came to life and began telling her story.

In a bustling hallway almost too packed to pass, Eleanor Kuhn and Julia Finch stood at rapt attention and took in every word.

The kindergartners at Richmond's Mary Munford Elementary School got their history lesson from second-grader Charlotte Candler.

Charlotte and 83 of her classmates spent Thursday afternoon as the star attractions of the Madame Munford Wax Museum.

For the third straight year, the school's second-graders put on the historical showcase as a fun way to cap their year of Standards of Learning-based lessons. Dressed in costume, the students represented famous people from Cleopatra to Napoleon to President Barack Obama, with a healthy dose of writers, musicians and sports stars sprinkled in.

Each student wore a round sticker with a character name and a big red button. Push the button, and the character would offer details about his or her life.

"It's great," said teacher Paula Katz. "Everybody gets to be someone. They all get speaking parts."

She said the idea came up a few years ago as she and other teachers were looking for ways to get students excited about historical figures beyond the usual stars such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

"There are so many others," she said.

Charlotte said she was excited to get to portray Tubman. "It's exciting," she said. "She helped free the black people from slavery."

Jada Keeve jumped into the role of Cleopatra, she said, because "I get to be the queen of Egypt."

Liam Harr chose Teddy Roosevelt, he said, "because he was the only president who dressed like a cowboy."

Maddy Watkins took on the role of the school's namesake, who was the first woman on the Richmond School Board. "I just think it's a lot of fun," she said with a big grin.

"They get an appreciation for all different cultures," said assistant principal Sametrian Isaac.

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .