The Bray School

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The Bray School was run in the Dudley Diggs House and was originally located where Brown Hall stands today. The Bray School, which was named after Reverend Thomas Bray and operated by Anne Wager, was created "for the instruction of Negro Children in the Principles of the Christian religion." Many of the students were enslaved though free black children also attended the school. Williamsburg was recommended by Benjamin Franklin as a potential site for a Bray School, as well as New York and Rhode Island. From 2012-2014, Colonial Williamsburg and members of the William & Mary community worked to excavate the site of the Bray School.