Discovery Of Schoolhouse For Black Children Now Offers A History Lesson

A small, white building has been sitting on the campus of the College of William & Mary for nearly a century. But it was only recently identified as an 18th century schoolhouse where free and enslaved Black children were taught Christianity and literacy.

Researchers believe the Williamsburg Bray School, as it was called, to be the oldest standing building in the U.S. dedicated to the education of Black children.

A new initiative aims to interpret and share the school's complex, pro-slavery history.

The school was founded by the Associates of Dr. Bray, clergyman Thomas Bray's London-based charity group tied to the Church of England as part of its wide-reaching mission to spread Christianity to the British Empire. It's location in Williamsburg, Va., was proposed, in part, by founding father Benjamin Franklin.

"The Church of England was deeply and intrinsically bound to slavery," Nicole Brown, a graduate student at William & Mary's American studies program, said in an interview with NPR. "So, often these textbooks are issuing a pro-slavery ideology to the students."