Hidden Histories of the Founding Era

FAIN: BH-288082-22

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (Williamsburg, VA 23187-8781)
Catherine Elizabeth Kelly (Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Maureen Elgersman Lee (Co Project Director: August 2022 to present)

Two week-long workshops for 72 K-12 educators in Colonial Williamsburg on African American and Indigenous perspectives during the Founding Era.

Hidden Histories of the Founding Era will introduce teachers to four sites that encompass the full complexity of the founding era: William & Mary’s Brafferton building, the Williamsburg Bray School, the historic First Baptist Church, and James Monroe’s Highland plantation. All are crucial sites for exploring Virginia’s multicultural history, and each is also the subject of ongoing research, reinterpretation, and community engagement. Taken together, these sites underscore the importance of grappling with complex, multivalent histories and demonstrate how scholars, archivists, educators, and community historians and members are collaborating to uncover hidden histories. This Landmarks program will be offered as two five-day residential sessions on the campus of William & Mary in Summer 2023 (First Session: June 26–30; Second Session: July 10–14) for 36 teachers per session.