Historic school for black children receives $5 million grant
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — A foundation has given a $5 million boost to efforts to preserve a colonial-era school where enslaved and free black children learned in Virginia.
The money comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. New York-based humanities philanthropy is funding similar projects across the country, which aim to promote greater representation of historically forgotten communities.
The Bray School educated hundreds of black children from 1760 to 1774 in Williamsburg. William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg are now working together to restore and relocate the building.
The school is believed to be the only remaining colonial-era building in the country that was dedicated to the education of black children. Its mission was to impart a Christian education with a “deeply mistaken goal of bringing slaves to accept their situation as divinely ordained,” the university and museum said in a statement.
Researchers identified the frame of the building last year. It is currently housed in a contemporary building on the William & Mary campus. It will be relocated a few blocks from Colonial Williamsburg, which will incorporate the school into its public history programming.
Restoring the Bray School “will help us tell a fuller story of our nation’s complex history of race, religion and education,” said Cliff Fleet, museum president and CEO. .
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This story was first published on February 18, 2022. It was updated on February 19, 2022 to correct that William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg did not announce the price on Friday. The announcement was due to be released on February 22. This story also corrects the name of the university. It’s William & Mary, not the College of William & Mary.