The Williamsburg Bray School

The Williamsburg Bray School was a school for free and enslaved Black children founded in 1760 in Williamsburg,

 Virginia. Opened at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion in 1760, the school educated potentially hundreds of students

 until its closure in 1774. The house it first occupied is believed to be the "oldest extant building in the United States

 dedicated to the education of Black children".

       Ann Wager, a widow and admired teacher of white Williamsburg children, served as schoolmistress and oversaw the 25 to 30 Bray School students between 3 and 10 years old. They included both enslaved and free Black children, with those enslaved requiring permission from their slave holders. Among those known to have sent enslaved children to attend the Bray School were tavern owners Christiana Campbell and Jane Vobe. Vobe sent two enslaved children to be educated by the Bray School, perhaps contributing to First Baptist Church-founder Gowan Pamphlet's literacy. William & Mary also sent two of its enslaved children, Adam and Fanny, to the Bray School in 1769.

       The curriculum focused on the Bible and Anglican catechesis, with Wager escorting the students to Bruton Parish services on feast days and giving students copies of the Book of Common Prayer after completing an exam on the catechism. Wager was kind to her students, though the curriculum also enforced pro-slavery ideology. Students were also taught manners and reading. Girls were also taught to knit and sew. Although Black Virginian oral tradition referred to some Bray School students as the "first black teachers in Virginia" and says they assisted in the escape of their fellow enslaved through sharing their knowledge of writing, writing was not taught at the school. Teaching enslaved persons to read would be outlawed by Virginia in the 19th century.

       The Bray School moved from the original building in 1765 and closed in 1774. Over the school's 14 years of operation, Wager educated up to several hundred students.

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