William (Washboard Bill) Cooke talking to students in Lake Park

Entertainers

Singers

Musicians

Fieldwork

Classrooms

Education

Teaching of folklore

Elementary schools

Schools

Students

Children

Street vendors

Local history

Demonstrations

African Americans

Performing arts

Music performance

Singing

Four color slides. Cooke, born July 4 1905 near St. Augustine, spent much of his life performing: in jook joints, on the street, on trains, and later in some of the top clubs of South Florida. In these images, he talks with elementary students about his career and music. The Folk Arts in Education Project in Palm Beach County was a joint venture between the Palm Beach County School System and the Florida Folklife Program. It was conducted between 1986 and 1987 by folklorist Jan Rosenberg with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to add to existing social studies curriculum. The goal was to impart an appreciation of multi-ethnic traditions and provide a sense of place to the mobile student population. The project focused on the Florida Studies component for fourth grade students. The project consisted of field research to identify local traditions and folk artists, a series of five two-day seminars to acquaint teachers with the use of folklore and folk arts, in-school programs conducted by a folklorist and traditionalist, which included visits by local folk artists. In total, the project involved 15 schools with 779 students.

State Archives of Florida, Series S1685

1988-02-04

Florida Folklife Program

Lake Park Elementary School (Lake Park, Fla.)

slides (photographs)

Still Image

S1685

v. 10

Palm Beach County Folk Arts in Education Project

Rosenberg, Jan

Cooke, "Washboard Bill" (William), 1905-2003

African American

3129

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