A Tale of Two Privies: Interpreting Daily Life and Education at the Williamsburg Bray School

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Established in 1760 with support from a London-based philanthropy called The Associates of Dr. Bray, the Williamsburg Bray School was one of the earliest institutions dedicated to the education of free and enslaved African American children in America. The school’s curriculum was designed to teach students Anglican catechism and included lessons in reading, sewing, and possibly writing and arithmetic. The small building that housed the school from 1760 to 1765 still stands and is currently undergoing restoration by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists have conducted extensive archaeological excavations at the original site of the school to determine how the landscape surrounding the building was organized and utilized by the students and their teacher. Recent analysis of artifacts and soil samples collected from a school-era privy has provided key information to understanding how the school was furnished and what daily life was like for students who attended the school.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow