College Professor, Terry Meyers, Thinks He Found Oldest Black School in the US

Terry Meyers, College of William & Mary professor, thinks he has found the oldest black schoolhouse in the U.S.

Terry Meyers, an English professor at the College of William and Mary, thinks he may have found the nation's oldest surviving schoolhouse for black children. According to CBS affiliate WJZ 13, Meyers said he believes the college, at Benjamin Franklin's urging, played an instrumental role in opening the Williamsburg Bray School in 1760 to educate both free and enslaved blacks.

The find would be remarkable not only for its historical significance, but for its location in the political and ideological epicenter of slavery. The college itself was funded by taxes on tobacco harvested by slaves. The college, its faculty and even some students owned slaves, and slave labor built core campus buildings, maintained the grounds and fed the residents.

It also runs counter to later sentiments in Virginia and other Southern states, which explicitly forbade teaching slaves to read or write. An 1819 Virginia law made doing so punishable by 20 lashes. "To me, the Bray School stands out as a bright spot in an otherwise dark narrative," Meyers said. Source

If this proves to be true, then it is an important part of African American history and should be embraced. The home is reportedly located across from the college campus and had belonged to Dudley Diggers.