WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) — To commemorate Juneteenth, Colonial Williamsburg held several events, including a ribbon cutting on the newly-restored Bray School.
Built in 1760, the school began with 24 students, with the teacher living upstairs. The dark wood you see is the framework original to 1760. Now, it’s reinforced with modern-day bracing.
“My heart is full, not because of the building, but because the building is a doorway — literally a doorway — to a much larger history that connects the past and the present, and that connects the history of the students who attended the school to descendent community members who are here,” said Maureen Elgersman Lee, director of the William and Mary Bray School lab.
Established by the Bray Associates of London who sought to build up the Church of England in America, students received a Christian education in addition to reading and writing. The girls were also taught needlework.
“They were actually able to take this education and bring it back to others in the household who did not have the ability to attend the school,” Lee said.
Olivia Blackshire worked with the Bray School Lab, documenting and preserving the school’s history and legacy.
“My first dorm was Brown Hall, where it originally stood, you know? And to see people working on the foundations and digging it up made me want to know the story even more,” Blackshire said. “And then to look at posters around campus to see the projects they were working on, it started from there and I’ve been involved ever since.”
It was also taught that students should accept their place as slaves. But what they learned often helped them escape their enslavers.
“Education opens a door that can never be closed,” Lee said. “And they were able to take this and apply these skills to create spaces for themselves that were not part of the curriculum and were not part of the design of this school.”
You can tour the Bray School for free at Colonial Williamsburg. Learn more about its history and the road to its restoration here: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/events/williamsburg-bray-school/.