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Freedom's Paradox

Explore the paradox of the institution of slavery and the movement for independence in a 60 minute walking tour which begins and ends at the Randolph Yard.

Judith and Daniel

Judith and Daniel, an enslaved couple, anxiously await their reunion after a year apart. Learn the tragic story resulting in their separation.

Private Family Tour

Your group's private guide will lead your family through town to learn more about what it was like to live in the 18th century.

Clothing Enslaved People in Colonial Virginia

Join apprentice tailor Tim Logue to discover some of the complex relationships between apparel, labor, identity, and enslavement.

Quiltmaker

Celebrate the life of Alabama quilter, Susana Allen Hunter as we discuss one of her pieced quilts. Then make a mini-quilt to take home.

Visit a Nation Builder- Edith Cumbo

Step into the past with Edith Cumbo, Free Black Sister, Mother, Fighter, Founder.

Home Educators Loquacious Lucy, Queen for a Day

Lucy, a gregarious and loquacious enslaved child, learns that her best friend has been sold. Her father must teach her hard lessons about slavery and the pride of her ancestors.

Home Educators Private History Walking Tour

Your group's private guide will lead your family through town to learn more about what it was like to live in the 18th century.

Home Educator Lessons in Survival with Edith Cumbo

Discover what family meant to those in the Black community, both free and enslaved, and how education was a means to survival.

Sentiments of American Women

This museum theatre program explores the connection between the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of 18th-century women and women of today.

Slaves and Goods: The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Historic Trades carpenter Harold Caldwell describes his travels to the United Kingdom and West Africa to better understand the British slave trade.

Good Progress

Meet Mrs. Wager, teacher of the Williamsburg Bray School, as she debates the nature of her school with Elizabeth DeRosario, a free woman of color.

My Story, My Voice- Sam

Sam, a Black soldier, tells his heroic story of self-liberation, his encounters with the Shawnee, his supposed enemy, and those who enslaved him. Which army will he fight for?

From Freedom to Slavery

After making a free life for herself as an adopted Shawnee Indian, Methotaskee is brought back into slavery.

The Actors' Lament

See a new humorous interactive play, engaging you in a theatre company's intrigues and secrets. Will they open on time? Find out during this open-air evening theater experience!

The African American Experience

During the 18th century, half of Williamsburg’s population was Black. Learn more about the daily life and culture of African Virginians.

Celebrating Juneteenth

This Wednesday, June 19, while people across the nation commemorate the anniversary of the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans in America, guests to Colonial Williamsburg can discover untold stories about the men and women of color who lived in 18th- and 19th-century Williamsburg. Actor Interpreters and Archaeologists will …

Why "Created Equal?"

We started with a question that Frederick Douglass asked in 1852, “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”The idea for ‘Created Equal’ came in the days following the Fourth of July in 2018. As we reviewed the programming that we offered on that day, I realized that we …

African American Watercolors

At Colonial Williamsburg, we uncover stories through archaeology, journals, architectural clues, and of course, through art. Join us on Nov. 8 at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for a fascinating opportunity to explore three unique historic watercolors featuring African Americans with paper conservator Pamela Young.Here are the three pieces …

What is Juneteenth?

Last year, in commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of African American Interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation — which coincided with 400 years since the first documented Africans arrived in Virginia — we had the opportunity to collaborate with our Archeologists in remembrance of Juneteenth (which they had already begun interpreting …

How to Make a Market Wallet

I’m off to the market todayTo find whatever I mayMust prepare the evening supAnd fill Peyton Randolph’s cupMany receipts call for carawayThat’ll be the cake of the dayAnd from my native landOkra will be on handRoasted squirrel his favorite meatA delicacy and a treatWhen prepared by Betty’s handIt’s the best …

Bringing the Past to Life: From Archaeologists to Actors

Meredith Poole is an archaeologist who recovers artifacts from the lives of people long since past. Mary Carter is an actor who presents the life of a person from fragments left behind. Their roles may seem at opposite ends of the museum world. But when collaboration stems from their different …

Reflections on ‘Created Equal’

On the Fourth of July we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that “all men are created equal” and endowed with certain unalienable rights, including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The question posed by Frederick Douglass in his 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the 4th …

Telling Their Stories

Embodying the persona of enslaved persons has enhanced my artistic development, expanded my mind, and forced me to go places within myself I never would have imagined. ‘Enslaved’ is an out of character term used to provide humanity to the people who were held in bondage. The law was the …

Connecting with the Past

Archaeological investigation has been ongoing at Colonial Williamsburg since 1928. Each decade since has offered new ways to examine old artifacts as scientific advances and sociological perspectives provide fresh insight. Active digs in the Historic Area give guests an opportunity to watch the process, ask questions, and participate in the …

Researching 40 Years of African American Interpretation

It was a sticky July day when I was called to my boss’ office, and a wave of fear and self-doubt washed over me. I had been working as a historian for 3 weeks. What could I possibly have done wrong in such a short time? My mind raced as …

Pilot of the Patriot

Guests to Colonial Williamsburg learn early in their visits that 52 percent of the city’s early-1770 population was enslaved. These people labored in trade shops, taverns, and the well-to-do households of Williamsburg. Outside the city, enslaved laborers worked on plantations throughout Virginia and plied the local waterways to bring tobacco …

Resources for Understanding Race and Inequality Through History

Change starts with education. Onsite and online, we’re committed to sharing America’s enduring story — especially those that have long gone untold. Here are some resources from our museum and other cultural institutions to help us all learn from the freedoms denied in our past and understand how to talk …

Research Spotlight: Finding Peter

My name is Cheyenne Johnson and I’m a member of the archaeology crew excavating at Custis Square. As part of my work, I am researching the enslaved community associated with the Custis family, and more specifically, John Custis’s Williamsburg properties. As we come closer to understanding some of their stories, …

Exploring African American History Through Music

Music enthusiasts have long enjoyed our nation's varied music making traditions, its continuing fusion of the experiences and influences of so many inspires music lovers around the globe.A key crossroad along the often challenging paths in our nation's history is Juneteenth: an early and positive step forward to begin a …

How to Read a Runaway Ad

Primary source documents are treasures for interpreters and the Virginia Gazette of the 18th century is one of my favorite places to explore and learn more about people of the time period, especially people who were enslaved. My focus is primarily Afro-Virginians since I represent enslaved and free blacks in …

A Survey of the Material Culture of Enslaved Black Women through Runaway Slave Advertisements

The lives of enslaved women are often viewed through their enslavement, their work, and their suppression and violation within a slave society. They are often viewed as an amorphous group, nameless, faceless, unchanged over 200 years of slavery. Their individual stories obscured by neglect. Few stop to think about these …

Research Spotlight: Finding Colonial Williamsburg's Black Archaeologists

Twenty-twenty was an excellent year to be an archaeologist. Direction from the CDC that we gather only outdoors, and that we maintain social distance required only minor tweaks to excavation protocols. Over the last 15 months, Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeologists have charged ahead, spreading out across four acres to excavate Custis …

A Future and a Hope

Robert Carter III, an unlikely emancipator, brought his young family and enslaved “domesticks” to his Palace Green home in 1761. Carter was a member of the Governor’s Council and the grandson of Virginia landholder, slaveholder, and slave trader Robert “King” Carter. As a child, Robert Carter III had inherited over …

What Can Paint Analysis Tell Us About the Bray School?

The discovery and examination of the Williamsburg Bray School has been an important and exciting project for William & Mary and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CW), particularly CW’s Department of Architectural Preservation and Research, working in collaboration with the Department of Conservation.

Finding Edmond Parsons

Have you ever felt that you were being followed?Born into slavery around 1815, Edmond Parsons would have been 200 years old the summer we met — he as the former resident of a 19th-century house on Duke of Gloucester Street, and I as an archaeologist uncovering its chimney. For the …

First Baptist Church Excavation Project

Colonial Williamsburg has partnered with the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg and the Let Freedom Ring Foundation to locate the remains of the Nassau Street site of the First Baptist Church. The First Baptist Church of Williamsburg is one of the country’s earliest African American congregations and was founded by …

37 Results for tag "African American"