Historic Site: Williamsburg Bray School

The Williamsburg Bray School, established by the London-based Anglican charity known as the Associates of Dr. Bray, was one of the earliest institutions dedicated to Black education in North America. Over the school’s 14 years of operation, from 1760 to 1774, a total of between 300 to 400 students from ages 3 to 10 were taught by Ann Wager, the school’s sole teacher. Students were educated in the tenets of the church and subjects including reading, and for girls, sewing. The Bray School was founded on the deeply flawed purpose that enslaved students should accept their circumstances as divinely ordained. Hidden in plain sight on the William & Mary campus for over 200 years, the Williamsburg Bray School now stands in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area as the Foundation’s 89th original structure. The reconstruction of the building will continue and the partnership with William & Mary’s Bray School Lab will enable scholars and interpreters to probe the complicated story of race, religion, and education in Williamsburg and in America.