The William & Mary Bray School Lab and Strategic Cultural Partnerships recently completed two year-long creative research projects with K-12 students in the Hampton Roads area: a choreographed dance event titled “The Williamsburg Bray School: A Story Worth Telling” led by Kristen Hill and the students at the Academy for Discovery at Lakewood and a project called “Turning Points in History” with Christine McBee and fourth grade students at Matthew Whaley Elementary School.
Both projects advanced the lab’s goals to uncover, document, preserve and share broadly the history and legacies of the Williamsburg Bray School; both projects also aligned with William & Mary’s on-going Year of the Arts celebration.
“In Strategic Cultural Partnerships, we seek to connect a broad range of learners and communities to our research and work,” said Ann Marie Stock, presidential liaison for strategic cultural partnerships at William & Mary.
“By engaging K-12 students and teachers with the exciting discoveries being made about the Bray School scholars and their world, we develop together a more nuanced understanding of our nation’s past and a fuller appreciation for the process of research and discovery.”
The Williamsburg Bray School: A story worth telling
It all started with a Facebook message.
The ADL Dance Company, a program for students at the Academy for Discovery at Lakewood (ADL), a Norfolk Public Schools middle school, took center stage at the Norfolk Public Schools Fine Arts Festival at the Chrysler Museum of Art on Saturday, May 4, following a year of research, reflection and rehearsal.
Under the leadership of ADL French teacher Kristen Hill, the students of the ADL Dance Company embarked on a journey through history, creating and delivering a performance titled “The Williamsburg Bray School: A Story Worth Telling,” paying homage to the enslaved and free Black children, known and unknown, who passed through the doors of the Williamsburg Bray School.
When Hill envisioned a year-long project centered on choreographing a recital recounting the narrative of the Williamsburg Bray School, she knew a traditional approach wouldn’t suffice.
Hence, the Facebook message: “I am the faculty sponsor of ADL Dance Company, a small but wonderful group of scholar-dancers who plan to research, create and perform a dance concert to educate our community about the Bray School,” she wrote. “Is there any possibility of arranging a visit to your facility this fall?”
She did not know it would initiate a powerful collaboration.
Hill’s request was met with great enthusiasm by the team at the W&M Bray School Lab and Strategic Cultural Partnerships. Strategic Cultural Partnerships facilitated the field trip and curated a rich educational experience; ADL dancers embarked on a day of learning and discovery at William & Mary under the tutelage of W&M Bray School Lab Director Maureen Elgersman Lee, Oral Historian Tonia Merideth and Genealogist Elizabeth Drembus.
“Making materials about the history and legacies of the Williamsburg Bray School available and accessible to K-12 students and educators allows them to engage in an intellectually creative partnership that produces original works of expression and reflection,” said Elgersman Lee.
The day culminated in a pizza picnic and a lunch-and-learn session led by W&M Bray School Lab Graduate Assistant Nicole Brown ’13, M.A. ’22 held on the lawn in between Travis and Barrett houses.
That might have been enough — more than enough — but the W&M team continued to play a pivotal role throughout the project, from capturing on video their preview performance last November to conducting on-site genealogy workshops for the ADL students to learn more about the scholars they were to embody. The team provided invaluable historical insights whenever Hill sought guidance.
“I could never have imagined how special this experience would turn out to be. Everyone on the Bray School Lab team has been a source of insight, inspiration and knowledge,” Hill said.
The ADL Dance Company’s performance demonstrated the power of artistic expression to not only entertain but also educate; the partnership between the ADL Dance Company and the W&M Bray School Lab demonstrated the power of collaboration to make great, unexpected things happen — even from a simple Facebook message.
“The Bray School discovery has become a personal thing for us,” Hill reflected. “In a special way, the Bray School scholars have become our friends.”
Other friends were made, too, reported ADL Dance Company member and seventh-grader Anabelle Castillo: “It was challenging but also fun and interesting. I made friends with people that I might not have gotten to know through my regular classes. I feel like I’m less quiet now. …we put so much work into it, and to see the final product felt very good.”
Turning points in history
At the same time, William & Mary Bray School Lab and Strategic Cultural Partnerships staff were engaged in a collaborative project with students from Matthew Whaley Elementary School in Williamsburg. The initiative, aligning with the 2024 National History Day theme, focused on “Turning Points in History.”
Over the course of several months, Matthew Whaley Elementary School fourth grade teachers and students explored the process of historical research, guided by a team drawn from Bray School Lab and SCP staff, W&M faculty and students, and external partners, including Nansemond Indian Nation Assistant Chief Dave Hennaman, who discussed the legacy of the Brafferton Indian School in Virginia Indigenous history during the final class presentation.
The team met monthly with Matthew Whaley’s fourth grade teachers and students and dove deep into the histories of the Williamsburg Bray School, the Brafferton Indian School and the namesake of their own school, Matthew Whaley.
“Focusing on the Bray, Brafferton and Matthew Whaley schools was an incredible way for students to become engaged in learning that was relative to their own life experiences,” Matthew Whaley teacher Christine McBee explained. “It connected them through historical empathy to students who lived where they live and had the same hopes and dreams they do.”
The students produced content-rich, creative projects that they showcased to a Matthew Whaley gymnasium packed with students, parents, teachers and WJCC administrators on April 24 at the school’s first History Night showcase.
Each student’s presentation focused on a “turning point” in the history of the Williamsburg Bray School, the Brafferton Indian School or young Matthew Whaley, using media that included paint, cardboard, Legos and Minecraft and demonstrating the students’ newfound knowledge and appreciation for those who helped build the Williamsburg community over centuries.
“Giving students opportunities to become civically involved in their community creates a population that can critically assess their role not just in Williamsburg, but also in Virginia and the United States,” McBee said. “Isn’t that the purpose of public education after all?”
The Williamsburg Bray School will open as an interpreted building at Colonial Williamsburg this fall, informed by the oral histories and genealogical research taking place at the William & Mary Bray School Lab.
“When we embarked on the journey with the Academy for Discovery at Lakewood and Matthew Whaley Elementary School, we thought that we were helping teachers and students ‘see’ the Williamsburg Bray School and its students. It is safe to say that they helped us see the history and legacies of the Williamsburg Bray School and its students with fresh eyes,” said Elgersman Lee.