CONWAY -- At 7 years old, Sydney Hopson thrives on the Bible, CNN, music and politics.
She can recite an untold number of Bible verses and some entire chapters. She's memorized about three-fourths of Martin Luther King's 17-minute-long "I Have a Dream" speech from 1963. And she sings, plays the piano and performs at churches, family reunions, the state Capitol, black-history events and more.
"I have files in my head," said Sydney, a second-grader at Conway Christian Elementary School.
Sydney is the daughter of Katrina Moore of Conway and Travis Hopson of Olive Branch, Miss., but she spends most of her time with her maternal grandmother, Rene Henderson, who keeps an appointment booklet jammed with details on the little girl's busy performance schedule.
Most recently, Sydney and Henderson traveled to a suburban Washington, D.C., event celebrating the opening of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture. On Saturday night, Sydney shared the program with concert pianist Michelle Cann. A tribute to President Barack Obama also was planned.
Sydney bills herself as "The ABC Girl," which stands for "All aBout Christ."
The billing takes on a dual meaning when Sydney recites verses as she did recently at a women's conference at Rock of Ages Missionary Baptist Church along Interstate 40 in North Little Rock.
Wearing a big smile with at least one tooth missing, a lacy black-and-white dress, white shoes and socks, and a big white bow in her hair, Sydney stood in front of the sanctuary's stage as Henderson sat on a front pew and called out the ABC's one at a time. Each letter was a signal for Sydney to recite a different Bible verse from the King James version.
There was no teleprompter or anything like it, and Sydney never had to look up any of the 26 verses in the Bible.
"H!" Henderson shouted.
"'Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.' Exodus 20:12," Sydney said.
"N!"
"'No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' Matthew 6:24."
Sydney also has memorized chapters, among them Exodus 20, best known for the Ten Commandments.
"I ... opened up Exodus 20 one Saturday morning for her to learn the Ten Commandments" and then left for a while to do some housework, Henderson recalled. "When I got back, she had memorized the whole chapter."
Sydney even has recited verses for Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who took turns citing memorized verses with her.
But never doubt that Sydney is bipartisan.
She likes to visit the Faulkner County Democratic Party headquarters, where Henderson works. Sydney even wrote a song aimed aimed at raising money for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The little girl does the singing, too.
"Oh, Hillary; oh, Hillary, what a great president you'll be!" the lyrics go. "Standing up strong, keeping us safe and telling Americans right from wrong. Oh, Hillary; oh, Hillary. ... Donald Trump doesn't even know that you will make the greatest president ever. ... Come on, people, let's do this!"
Despite her grandmother's party work, Sydney said she originally supported Republican Marco Rubio for the presidency.
A fan of CNN programs, especially those featuring Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, Henderson said her granddaughter "followed Marco Rubio in the race until he exited."
"This is when she jumped the fence to Hillary," Henderson said with a smile.
"He's nice, smart, and I like watching him on TV," Sydney chimed in.
Besides, she said, Clinton and Rubio seem a lot alike.
Since Sydney started performing, she's been on radio programs and even exchanged her business card for a hug from Clinton when the candidate visited Pine Bluff earlier this year. In July, the mayor of West Memphis declared a Sydney Hopson Day.
In June, Sydney appeared at the National Baptist Convention Southwest Regional Youth Conference in Birmingham, Ala. She plans to produce a DVD.
Sydney enjoys reading and is especially fond of the popular Prince Adventure stories for children. One of her favorite books of the Bible is Revelation, she said, "because it's so [about the] future."
Sydney was about 4 when Henderson first realized what an amazing memory her granddaughter had. They were on their way to preschool, where Sydney was to have a weekly test on memorizing one verse.
"I said, 'OK, let's rehearse one more time.' She didn't say a word. I turned the radio down. I said, 'Sydney, can you say your verse for Grandma?'"
After a pause, Henderson recalled, Sydney said, "'Grandma, I'm waiting for you to tell me which one." Sydney told her she knew all of them and then recited 26 verses.
Henderson and Sydney have collaborated on a small book titled God Made Me Who I Am -- The ABC Girl's Testament Story of her Life & Recital Journey. There's even a place for Sydney to autograph it.
Jason Carson, president and chief executive officer of Conway Christian School, called Sydney "a very bright girl" who "tries extremely hard in the classroom."
"She's really got a fantastic memory," he said. "Part of our curriculum is for students to memorize a new verse once a week. Sydney's taken it far beyond that."
State Desk on 09/25/2016