Photo - of - by staff | April 23, 2021
Following a consultative and thorough process established earlier this year, William & Mary’s Board of Visitors voted Friday to rename two campus buildings and name one campus structure to honor trailblazing alumni who helped open the door for marginalized people at both the university and beyond.
Morton Hall will become John E. Boswell Hall, named for an alumnus, recognized scholar and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. The Arcade at Cary Field, the arched walkway at Zable Stadium that serves as its northern colonnade, will be named the Arthur W. Matsu Arcade after the university’s first known Asian-American student and William & Mary’s first “true gridiron hero.” Taliaferro Hall will become Hulon L. Willis Sr. Hall, named after the first African-American student to enroll at William & Mary.
William & Mary Military Science/Digges House at 524 Prince George St. (WYDaily/Courtesy of William and Mary)
The unassuming, small, white building tucked away on Prince George Street houses a lot more history than was originally thought.
The building most recently housed offices for William and Mary’s Department of Military Science and is known as the Prince George House on campus.
Dendrochronology analysis of the building’s wood framing conducted in 2020 by Colonial Williamsburg researchers confirmed the structure once housed Williamsburg’s Bray School, an institution that educated many of the town’s Black children from 1760 to 1774.
The Bray School’s mission was to impart Christian education to Black children and for students to accept enslavement as divinely ordained. The school was suggested for establishment in Williamsburg by Benjamin Franklin.
Photo - of - by Joseph McClain | February 25, 2021
A small white building that sits tucked away on the William & Mary campus once held an 18th-century school dedicated to the religious education of enslaved and free Black children, researchers have determined.
Now, the university and its neighbor, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, are working together to ensure future generations learn about the history of the building and the stories of those who were part of it.
William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg have forged a partnership regarding the future use of the building, now known as the Bray-Digges House, likely the oldest extant building in the U.S. dedicated to the education of Black children. The agreement calls for relocation of the structure to Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area, where it would become the 89th original structure restored by the foundation.