Date Awarded
Fall 2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Anthropology
Advisor
Neil L. Norman
Committee Member
Jonathan Glasser
Committee Member
Frederick H. Smith
Abstract
There is a dearth of literature on the archaeology of childhood. Historical archaeology, by its unique nature as a discipline, can use a combination of written documents, the archaeological record, and oral histories to interpret past lives. Historical documents and correspondence of the Associates of the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Bray attest to the establishment of The Bray School, a school created for free and enslaved African American children in eighteenth-century Williamsburg, Virginia. Appointed schoolmistress Mrs. Ann Wager played a significant role in what the children were being taught. An abundance of slate pencil fragments found on the Bray School site and oral histories contradict what is found in the written record.
DOI
http://doi.org/10.21220/S2D59X
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Scura Trovato, Valerie Susan, "Slate Pencils?: Education of Free and Enslaved African American Children at The Bray School, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1760-1774" (2016). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1477068197.
http://doi.org/10.21220/S2D59X
