You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast.

Ben Franklin's World is a production of the Omohundro Institute and is sponsored by

the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Hello and welcome to episode 331 of Ben Franklin's World.

The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of

our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Covard.

In a town as old as Williamsburg, Virginia, which was established in 1638,

it's often the case that historic buildings with interesting pasts stand unnoticed and in plain sight.

Such was the case for the building that once housed Williamsburg's Bray School.

The school founded by a group of Anglican clergymen with the express purpose of educating black children

and the ways of the Anglican faith.

It was an education that included reading, possibly writing, and the book of common prayer.

After many years of additions, different uses, and standing in plain sight on William and Mary's

university campus.

One of William and Mary's English professors, Dr. Terry Myers, alerted William and Mary,

and its next door neighbor, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,

that he thought this old but certainly not 18th century looking building was quite possibly the Bray School.

If it was the school, then this building would be the oldest standing structure in North America

that was used for the formal education of black children in the 18th century.

So what has been the consequence of Dr. Myers' discovery?

In honor of Juneteenth, we speak with three scholars who were deeply involved with the Bray School initiative,

...