Footsteps from the Past VIII

Footsteps from the Past VIII – the Williamsburg Bray School, for enslaved and free black children.

Description

Seeking solitude and escape, the ethereal figure of a young black student from colonial history is depicted sitting on the Bray School attic floor immersed in a book. Although it would be a long battle fought for the right to literacy, Williamsburg’s Bray School represented one of the early platforms where the conflict was waged.

Inspired by photographs taken of the Bray school demolition project [1], Footsteps from the Past VIII—the Williamsburg Bray School, depicts what the Bray school attic’s plastered walls and brick and stone-faced fireplace/chimney may have looked like when it was being used as a school for free and enslaved black children during the colonial period. Not a strict interpretation, since there are no photographs of the interior during the colonial period, but an interpretative artistic rendering.

From 1760 to 1774, the Williamsburg Bray School instructed approximately 400 Black children[2]. According to discussions provided on the William & Mary Bray School Lab blog, the Bible was used as a tool for teaching literacy and a source for exerting control over the children being schooled to be good servants[3].

Regarding the Bray School, the former associate director for curatorial affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and previous vice president of Colonial Williamsburg, Rex Ellis, stated: “Yes, it was to spread the gospel. Yes, it taught students the etiquette of the church. But it also taught the art of reading and most significant for me, it was a moment, if only a brief moment, that African youngsters were exposed to the possibilities of literacy and learning.” Ellis further commented that the discovery of the Bray school was important for Williamsburg and America as well: “At a time when we are losing our moorings as a nation, the potential of a story that shows how the dreams of a few contributed to the values and the understanding of the many is extraordinary, how faith and scholarship and enlightenment mattered at the beginning of who we became as an American nation is immense.”[4]

[1] https://digital.libraries.wm.edu/original-18th-century-bray-chimney-attic-feb-8th-2022

[2] https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/trend-tradition-magazine/summer-2021/this-was-the-bray-school/

[3] https://brayschool.pages.wm.edu/2024/04/08/making-the-crooked-places-straight/

[4] https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/trend-tradition-magazine/summer-2021/this-was-the-bray-school/

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16x20 Fine arts print on canvas with 2 inch white border. Giclee prints are individually printed; purchase requests may take 2 to 3 weeks for delivery.

Footsteps from the Past prints and merchandise are available for purchase and viewing at Suzanne's studio by appointment. Suzanne's artwork will be on display at Williamsburg 2nd Sunday on June 9th. Booth location will be available two weeks prior to the festival.