FOR THE KIDS : Racial Harmony : The Harrises’ upcoming ‘One Family, One Planet’ concert will include songs about civil rights and the environment.

Kim and Reggie Harris land in Ventura County next week for a round of concerts that not only focus on their first love--African-American history--but also teach a sort of environmental peace.

With fabulous voices that harmonize perfectly, the couple are best known for their songs about some of the greats from civil rights history--Harriet Tubman, Satchel Paige, Rosa Parks--and some not so well known, like Crispus Attucks, an African-American killed at the outset of the Revolutionary War.

In conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, the couple will be performing in some schools next week. On Jan. 15, they will do a show at Ventura College that also includes contemporary music and is geared more for adults.

On Jan. 17, they will take the stage at the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center in Port Hueneme for a children’s show, “One Family, One Planet,” which expands their theme to what they call environmental peace.

In the kids show, they sing about friendship and how you treat other people, explained Kim Harris during a telephone interview from her Upstate New York home. “The rivers, the planet, they’re also your friends,” she said, carrying the theme over to the environment.

It’s not all mushy stuff, though. They do a song about brushing teeth that’s really about water conservation. They bring kids up on the stage who become the water that most of us run--and waste--while we brush.

They also do a song, “The Garbage Blues,” about recycling, and a rap song, “One Family, One Planet,” about how we’re all in this together. The show, written by the couple, also includes some stories from African-American history, and that is where they stand out.

In their show for students, “Dream Alive,” they give a musical overview of that history.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. is part of that history, he doesn’t dominate it. They wanted to highlight all the other African-Americans who had made contributions to the civil rights movement.

“Kids already know about Martin Luther King Jr.,” Kim Harris said. Many of them know about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad she ran to bring slaves to freedom in the North during the 1850s, she said. “We’re filling in between the two.”

One of the funniest songs they do is a fast-talking tune about baseball pitcher Satchel Paige. (“His fastball was so fast it could go through a carwash without getting wet.”)

They will be doing that number, along with another funny one about wearing seat belts, at the Ventura College show. They’ll throw in some 1950s-style stuff and some a cappella material too.

“There won’t be a specific theme,” she said. “We’ll do more original songs.”

Their musical backup is simple. Reggie Harris plays the guitar and they’ll have a drummer along. If they harmonize well, it’s no wonder. They’ve been performing together since 1974. They married in 1976, and they’ve been touring the county since 1980.

They grew up in Philadelphia and met as camp counselors.

Kim Harris said she was always taken with African-American history, hearing bits and pieces in school growing up. “And I love the spirituals,” she said.

Other Kid Doings

You can take the older kids who can stay up late to the Stars of Magic show, Saturday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m., at the Dorill B. Wright Center in Port Hueneme. Tickets are $12. For information, call 986-6598.

* FYI

Kim and Reggie Harris will perform Friday, Jan. 15, at Ventura College, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. For information, call 654-6400. They will perform their kids show, “One Family, One Planet,” Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Dorill B. Wright Center in Port Hueneme, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7. For information, call 986-6598.