ABSTRACT
In this project, I focus on growing up in the small town of Williamsburg, Virginia. While I personally had a positive childhood within the area, I am curious to hear others’ perspectives and experiences growing up in the same town. Primarily, this project revolves around how certain time periods, racial differences, and economic conditions affect childhood experiences. I specifically deal with Williamsburg, Virginia because I believe this town can serve as a microcosm of the United States, and perhaps even the world as a whole. These differences (racial, socioeconomic, etc.) that had an effect on different childhood experiences also likely had an impact on adult life, as the two are intimately related. These impacts can be both positive or negative. The relationship between childhood and adulthood has somewhat of a cyclical nature, as adults - whether they be parents, guardians, teachers, and so on - hold an immense amount of power over the youth. Within my research, multiple sources point to children as a marginalized group in history. This view is mainly due to the lack of records and primary sources penned by children themselves. Even within the town of Williamsburg itself, the Brafferton School and the Bray School exemplify this reality. Ultimately, the different realities of each child go on to influence society itself, as both children and the adults that they grow into, become integral parts of society as a whole.
TRANSCRIPT
Slide 1: Williamsburg is a small city located between the York and James rivers. Within
this city, there is an area called Colonial Williamsburg, which is a restored and reconstructed depiction of the town during the 1700s. This is where I grew up, and although it is a small town, I believe it can serve as a microcosm of the United States as a whole. I have collected accounts from people who have had various experiences growing up in Williamsburg, and in this presentation I will discuss some of them. It is up to you, the listener, to consider what they might reflect about America.
Slide 3: We didn’t suffer with the problems that kids do today.
Slide 4: Some of the serious hardships that children are facing today revolves around
immigration and deportation. Erika Juarez, who lives with her mother and half-brother in Williamsburg, mentions this is another interview for the Williamsburg Documentary Project. Though Juarez currently attends Jamestown High School, she constantly fears being forced to leave the United States. In order to help support her family, she also works two jobs. Yet another struggle Juarez faces is the inability to attain healthcare due to her immigrant status. All of this, as only a high school student.
Slide 6: Education plays a major role in children’s lives, and throughout Williamsburg (both geographically and historically) there are schools demonstrating this. For example, the Brafferton School was established to educate and “Americanize” Native American children on a wide variety of subjects, especially the Christian faith. The school stopped accepting students in 1779. Some boys who attended this
school came willingly while others were forced against their wills. The Bray school was established to educate both free and enslaved African American children, and also focused on the Christian faith. The school closed in 1774.
Slide 9: In her Master’s Thesis for the department of anthropology at William and Mary, Valerie Scura Trovato details the different accounts and experiences of children who attended the Bray School. The courses at the school were quite different from those of modern day, as the main subjects included reading, sewing, knitting, marking, catechism, deportment and etiquette. Interestingly, slate pencil fragments found at the Bray School site suggest writing was being taught, but in the historical record it is not mentioned as a subject. WY Daily, a local newspaper, said in an article “writing was never mentioned, suggesting it was not being taught. The titles of books sent to schools by the associates are well documented. None are on writing.”
Slide 10: Most of our textbooks - most of the ones that I had anyway - had Matthew Whaley stamped in them. The schoolbuses were always the used buses, the new ones always went to Matthew Whaley students.
Slide 12: It was kind of a mixed neighborhood. Back then the neighborhoods weren’t segregated by economic conditions... and not fully by race, but somewhat by race.
Slide 13: I can recall going to the theatre, they had rows of two seats for blacks. (Interviewer) The Kimball Theatre?
We remember when we couldn’t go in it!
(Interviewer) So what was the transition?
They gave us two seats.
(Interviewer) Do you remember when, around, that was?
It was about the late 50s when we were able to go in there.
Slide 14: I was lucky enough to have an extremely positive childhood in Williamsburg. I was able to attend Williamsburg Campus Childcare, and we took many trips to CW. They are still some of my favorite memories.
Slide 15: Overall, these diverse childhoods are a major part of who each person grows up to be. Even in a town as small as Williamsburg, Virginia, there are still major divisions of childhood experiences. Children make up every culture’s future, and are contributors to their families and societies, yet they are frequently overlooked and remain voiceless. These children eventually become adults and pass on the cultural knowledge that they acquired during their childhoods to the next generation. With the new technologies that exist today, the silence of children in the historical record will hopefully no longer be an issue. Platforms such as Instagram and Twitter may be viewed as somewhat trivial by society, but will likely help give voices to the previously voiceless societal group composed of children.
WORKS CITED
Slide 3:
Gardner, Dennis. 2007. “Dennis Gardner Oral History.” Interview by Ryan Clark and Arthur Knight. Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, August 7, 2007. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/808.
Slide 4:
Juarez, Ericka. 2007. “Ericka Juarez Oral History.” Interview by Courtney Graves.
Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, April 9,
2007. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/753. Photograph of Immigration Protesters. 2018. Getty Images, by David McNew,
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/survey-trump-s-immigration-rhetoric-ne gatively-impacting-latinos-health-n1076011.
Slide 6:
Colonial Williamsburg. n.d. “The Brafferton.” Accessed February 26, 2020.
https://www.history.org/almanack/places/hb/hbbraff.cfm
Dietrich, Tamara. 2019. “‘We Used to Be There’: The Lost History and Legacy of
America’s Indian School.” Daily Press, December 25, 2019. Photograph of the Brafferton School. William and Mary, n.d.
https://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/brafferton/index.php. Photograph of the Bray School. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, n.d.
http://usslave.blogspot.com/2011/09/williamsburg-bray-school-maybe-oldest.h
tml.
William and Mary News Staff. 2018. “W&M to Mark Site of 18th Century School
for Black Children.” Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, July 10, 2018.
Slide 7:
Dietrich, Tamara. 2019. “‘We Used to Be There’: The Lost History and Legacy of
America’s Indian School.” Daily Press, December 25, 2019.
Slide 8:
Youtube. 2011. “The Brafferton Dig: Looking for Artifacts from the W&M ‘Indian’
School.” William and Mary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85dcJg1-GcE&t=161s.
Slide 9:
African American school children at work on a craft project. 1899. Library of
Congress, by Frances Benjamin Johnston.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001699121/.
Plaque Commemorating School for Black Children. 2019. The Virginia Gazette.
https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/news/va-vg-wm-bray-school-0316-
story.html.
Scura Trovato, Valerie. 2016. “Slate Pencils?: Education of Free and Enslaved
African American Children at the Bray School, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1760-1774.” PhD diss., College of William and Mary.
Slide 10:
Gardner, Dennis. 2007. “Dennis Gardner Oral History.” Interview by Ryan Clark
and Arthur Knight. Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, August 7, 2007. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/808.
Matthew Whaley Elementary School. 2012. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/280900278676526/photos/a.280912952008592/28 0912955341925/?type=1&theater.
Slide 12:
Gardner, Dennis. 2007. “Dennis Gardner Oral History.” Interview by Ryan Clark
and Arthur Knight. Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, August 7, 2007. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/808.
Wallace, Lloyd and Shirley. 2010. “Lloyd and Shirley Wallace Oral History.” Interview by Morgan Flaherty. Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, April 23, 2010. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/1999.
Slide 13:
The Kimball Theater. 2009. Twitter. https://twitter.com/kimballtheatre. Wallace, Lloyd and Shirley. 2010. “Lloyd and Shirley Wallace Oral History.”
Interview by Morgan Flaherty. Williamsburg Documentary Project, William and Mary Digital Archive, April 23, 2010. https://digitalarchive-wm-edu.proxy.wm.edu/handle/10288/1999.
Slide 15:
Children playing with hoops in Colonial Williamsburg. From Taking the Kids,
2014. Retrieved from https://www.takingthekids.com/2014/10/10/what-the-kids-say-about-18th-cent ury-williamsburg-va/.