{"id":6423,"date":"2024-11-05T09:06:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T09:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6423"},"modified":"2024-11-07T09:10:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T09:10:26","slug":"colonial-williamsburg-restores-americas-oldest-black-schoolhouse-uncovering-a-legacy-of-education-and-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6423","title":{"rendered":"Colonial Williamsburg Restores America\u2019s Oldest Black Schoolhouse, Uncovering a Legacy of Education and Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\">by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Colonial Williamsburg is nearing completion on the restoration of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colonialwilliamsburg.org\/learn\/deep-dives\/williamsburg-bray-school-project-update\/\">Williamsburg Bray School<\/a>, the oldest surviving schoolhouse for Black children in America.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1760 by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopediavirginia.org\/entries\/associates-of-dr-bray\/\">Associates of Dr. Bray<\/a>, a British Anglican charity, the school was established to teach enslaved and free Black children to read, albeit through a curriculum that promoted religious submission to slavery. Yet, for the hundreds of students who passed through its doors, literacy opened possibilities far beyond their assigned roles.<\/p>\n<p>The school\u2019s dedication on Nov. 1 marked a milestone in the project\u2019s meticulous restoration efforts, with public tours set to begin this spring. Located on the grounds of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colonialwilliamsburg.org\/\">Colonial Williamsburg<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wm.edu\/sites\/brayschool\/\">William &amp; Mary\u2019s Bray School Lab<\/a>, the Williamsburg Bray School stands as a testament to the oppression and resilience woven into early American history.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\">The Smithsonian\u2019s Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, who served as the keynote speaker, emphasized the significance of the structure by saying that it has \u201cextraordinary potential\u201d to demonstrate how a small number of people\u2019s dreams helped shape the values of many people.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside><\/aside>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/tont\/learn\/nature\/dendrochronology.htm\">Dendrochronology<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a method of dating wood by its growth rings \u2014 helped identify the schoolhouse in 2020, confirming that it was built in the winter of 1759 or spring of 1760. Colonial Williamsburg\u2019s team, under the direction of architectural preservation director Matt Webster, has now identified the 89th original structure in Williamsburg\u2019s Historic Area.<\/p>\n<p>More than 80 former students, now identified through Colonial Williamsburg\u2019s research, attended the Bray School in the 1760s. Among them was Isaac Bee, who later emancipated himself. His enslaver placed ads in the Virginia Gazette warning that Bee \u201ccan read.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aberdeen, Bristol, and Phoebe \u2014 ages 5, 7, and 3 \u2014 were among other students taught by Ann Wager, the school\u2019s only teacher, who instructed over 300 Black children in reading, Christianity, and obedience.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pro-slavery curriculum, many students quietly resisted by sharing literacy with others in their communities.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a story of resilience and resistance,\u201d Maureen Elgersman Lee, the Bray School Lab director, told The Associated Press. \u201cThe Bray School\u2019s teachings may have been rooted in pro-slavery ideology, but education had a way of empowering these children.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Lee and her team continue researching descendants, with several students tracing their ancestry to Black households such as the Jones and Ashby families.<\/p>\n<p>Janice Canaday, a descendant of former students Elisha and Mary Jones, is now Colonial Williamsburg\u2019s African American community engagement manager. Reflecting on her heritage, Canaday shared: \u201cTo know what your family has come through\u2014that\u2019s where your power is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bray School was an exception in a time when most colonies prohibited educating Black people. Though Virginia imposed anti-literacy laws later in the 1800s, Colonial Williamsburg has uncovered evidence suggesting Bray students went on to influence their communities. Jody Allen, director of the Lemon Project, noted that the students likely taught siblings and others what they learned, enabling literacy as an act of defiance.<\/p>\n<p>Since its rediscovery, the Bray School has undergone extensive preservation efforts overseen by Colonial Williamsburg. The team restored historically accurate wooden sills and brickwork, maintaining nearly 75% of the original structure. Officials said the preserved building will anchor research on the intersections of race, religion, and education, shedding light on a part of America\u2019s past often overlooked.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\">\u201cThis is an incredibly important opportunity both to understand the Bray School and to understand Williamsburg in the 18th century,\u201d Webster stated.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The school, originally recommended by Benjamin Franklin as a site for Black education, also illuminates the lives of early Black educators in Virginia. William &amp; Mary Professor Emeritus Terry Meyers said the Bray School likely fostered Virginia\u2019s first Black teachers.<\/p>\n<p>Colonial Williamsburg President Cliff Fleet also stressed the educational significance of the school\u2019s story. William &amp; Mary President Katherine Rowe noted that the restored building will serve as a \u201cliving testament to the resilience and strength of the Black students who defied their roles by embracing literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The research will continue as scholars, descendants, and visitors explore the Bray School\u2019s historical role. Researchers hope to relocate the building to Colonial Williamsburg\u2019s Historic Area, preserving the space where generations of Black children gained the knowledge that helped shape their futures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis project honors not just the children who learned here, but their courage to transcend the limitations set before them,\u201d said Bunch, \u201ca resilience that endures in the story of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/colonial-williamsburg-restores-bray-school\/\">Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown Colonial Williamsburg is nearing completion on the restoration of the\u00a0Williamsburg Bray School, the oldest surviving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-history"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6425,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6423\/revisions\/6425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}