Colonial Williamsburg

FILE - From left, Reginald F. Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church, Connie Matthews Harshaw, a member of First Baptist, and Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg's director of archaeology, stand at the brick-and-mortar foundation of one the oldest Black churches in the U.S. on Oct. 6, 2021, in Williamsburg, Va. Experts announced Thursday, April 6, 2023, that three men whose graves were found at the site were members of the church in the early 19th Century. (AP Photo/Ben Finley, File)

Experts link graves to one of nation’s oldest Black churches

A team of archaeologists and scientists in Virginia say the graves of three men belonged to one of the nation’s oldest Black churches.

The Bray School is aligned with a set foundation at its new location in Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Va. on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 after it was moved from the William & Mary campus. It is believed to be the oldest surviving schoolhouse for Black children in the U.S., built 25 years before the American Revolution. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

Oldest schoolhouse for Black children in US moved to museum

Colonial Williamsburg coachman Collin Ashe directs his horses as he drives his coach Thursday Feb. 24, 2022, in Williamsburg, Va. Colonial Williamsburg has begun to honor the coachmen by naming a new carriage after one of them. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Museum begins honoring Black coachmen from the Jim Crow era

FILE- This early 1900s photo provided by the The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation shows the front of the Dudley Digges House in its original location on Prince George Street, in Williamsburg, Va. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given a $5-million boost to efforts to preserve the colonial-era schoolhouse where enslaved and free Black children were taught in Virginia, officials announced Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. (Courtesy of John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library/The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation via AP, File)

Historic Black children’s school receives $5 million grant

FILE - Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy testifies before a House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services hearing to review the FY 2016 budget request of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, March 23, 2015. Kennedy, the retired U.S. Supreme Court justice who spent more than a decade as the high court’s most frequent tie-breaker, received The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's highest award on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. He retried in 2018 after serving as an associate justice for 30 years. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Colonial Williamsburg honors retired Justice Anthony Kennedy

This 1921 image provided by the The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation shows the front elevation of the Dudley Digges House in its original location on Prince George Street, in Williamsburg, Va. The schoolhouse where enslaved and free Black children were taught before the Revolutionary War will be moved from the William & Mary campus to Colonial Williamsburg and restored to its original state, officials announced Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. (Earl Gregg Swem/John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library/The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation via AP)

Colonial Williamsburg restoring school for Black children

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — A schoolhouse where enslaved and free Black children were taught before the Revolutionary War will be moved from the William & Mary campus to Colonial Williamsburg and restored to its original state, officials announced Friday.

Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg's director of archaeology, holds a one-cent coin from 1817 on Wednesday Oct. 6, 2021, in Williamsburg, Va. The coin helped archaeologists confirm that a recently unearthed brick-and-mortar foundation belonged to one of the oldest Black churches in the United States. (AP Photo/Ben Finley)

Remnants of Black church uncovered in Colonial Williamsburg

The brick foundation of one the oldest Black churches in the United States has been unearthed by archeologists at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

Research lab to focus on school for Black children in 1700s

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — William & Mary is launching a research initiative that’s focused on a school that educated enslaved and free Black children in the 18th century.