The Bray School building before its east and west wing additions were added in the 1920s.
That was the case for the Bray School, tucked away on the campus of the William & Mary. The little white building had once been a women’s dormitory, but now it is the oldest known structure still standing in the northern hemisphere that housed a school dedicated to the education of Black children.
William & Mary have partnered with Colonial Williamsburg to relocate and restore the Bray School building to its former glory. Over 200 years after the first Black students walked through its doors, the Bray School’s resurrection will teach a new generation a more complete history, one that includes the lived experiences of the Black community in Williamsburg.
“[The Bray School] disrupts the long-held narrative that slavery and education did not coexist,” said Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee, Mellon Engagement Coordinator for African American Heritage and Culture at William & Mary. This disruption, she said, “helps contextualize the post-American revolution, when we see enslaved African Americans that we know knew how to read and write forge their own passes and escape.”
Elgersman Lee has been named the director of the William & Mary Bray School Lab, which will work in conjunction with the university and Colonial Williamsburg to create learning opportunities for visitors to the 18th century living museum. The Bray School Lab will perform deep dives into the history surrounding the Bray School, its impact on the children it served, and open the door to discovery and scholarship that can help change the way American history is written.
The Bray School was the creation Dr. Thomas Bray, an Anglican man born in the 17th century who believed in educating Black and Native children in literacy and Christianity.
Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee
