Williamsburg Sun

Bray-Digges House, original home of the 18th-century Williamsburg Bray School, moves from W&M to Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area

In the early-morning hours of Feb. 10, an 18th-century building with an extraordinary history will travel from its location on the campus of William & Mary to Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. The move marks a new chapter for the building, which served as the original home of the Williamsburg Bray School and is likely the oldest extant building in the United States dedicated to the education of Black children.

For The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and William & Mary – the institutions together responsible for uncovering the building’s identity in 2021 – the move signifies another step forward in both organizations’ intentionally inclusive approaches to researching and teaching American history.

William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg will host a 30-minute ceremony to commemorate the building and its history at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10 on the lawn of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, across the street from the building’s new site at the corner of Nassau and Francis streets. The ceremony is open to the public and will feature remarks from Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Cliff Fleet, William & Mary President Katherine A. Rowe, Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons and others. Key funders of the Williamsburg Bray School Initiative include the Mellon Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Truist and The Gladys and Franklin Clark Foundation. Key funders of the Bray School Lab include Steve and Gale Kohlhagen, the Ametek Foundation, the Jessie Ball DuPont Foundation and the Middle Road Foundation.

“The Bray School has so much to teach us about our nation’s history, and many who shaped it,” Rowe said. “The Williamsburg Bray School Initiative, and research projects like it, are foundational to William & Mary’s core mission. We are fortunate to have great partners at Colonial Williamsburg and in the local community to help us tell its story.”  

The historic structure will become a new and significant component of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s public history programming.

“The Williamsburg Bray School provides us with an incredible opportunity to explore and learn from a complicated piece of our past that – like the Bray School building itself – has been overlooked by so many for hundreds of years,” Fleet said. “Incorporating this building into Colonial Williamsburg’s world-class programming highlights this important piece of our collective history and allows us to share it with the world.”

Original source can be found here