Inside a 1760 schoolhouse for Black children is a complicated history of slavery and resilience

By Ben Finley, Associated Press

A Virginia museum has nearly finished restoring the nation’s oldest surviving schoolhouse for Black children, where hundreds of mostly enslaved students learned to read through a curriculum that justified slavery.

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The museum, Colonial Williamsburg, also has identified more than 80 children who lined its pinewood benches in the 1760s.

They include Aberdeen, 5, who was enslaved by a saddle and harness maker. Bristol and George, 7 and 8, were owned by a doctor. Phoebe, 3, was the property of local tavern keepers.

Another student, Isaac Bee, later emancipated himself. In newspaper ads seeking his capture, his enslaver warned Bee “can read.”

The museum dedicated the Williamsburg Bray School at a large ceremony on Friday, with plans to open it for public tours this spring. Colonial Williamsburg tells the story of Virginia’s colonial capital through interpreters and hundreds of restored buildings.

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch told the crowd outside the refurbished school that it was one of the most important historic moments of the last decade.

“History is an amazing mirror,” Bunch added. “It’s a mirror that challenges us and reminds us that, despite what we’ve achieved, despite all our ideals, America still is a work in progress. But oh, what an amazing work it is.”

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“We don’t shy away from the fact that this was a pro-slavery school,” said Maureen Elgersman Lee, director of William & Mary’s Bray School Lab, a partnership between the university and museum.

But she said the school takes on a different meaning in the 21st century.

“It’s a story of resilience and resistance,” Lee said. “And I put the resilience of the Bray School on a continuum that brings us to today.”

To underscore the point, the lab has been seeking descendants of the students, with some success.

They include Janice Canaday, 67, who also is the museum’s African American community engagement manager. Her lineage traces back to the students Elisha and Mary Jones.

“It grounds you,” said Canaday, who grew up feeling little connection to history. “That’s where your power is. And those are the things that give you strength — to know what your family has come through.”

Continue reading about the Williamsburg Bray School here.

Explore our exhibit on How Slavery Became the Law of the Land in places like Virginia.

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