WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia — Those coming to Colonial Williamsburg on a nostalgic trip will find some of what they’re looking for.
The Fife and Drum Corps still has costumed interpreters making 18th-century wigs, political debate It helped birth the American Revolution.
However, when he approaches Stock and Pillory in front of the courthouse to recreate a silly photo of an old school trip, he finds that the headpiece is bolted on.
Closed in Spring 2020 as Covid related measures. Colonial Williamsburg — the world’s largest ‘living history’ museum — rethink the message Be behind your favorite Instagram moments.
“These are friendly strains,” Matt Webster, head of architectural preservation, explained on a recent tour (during which he also pointed out a not-so-friendly whipping post nearby).
And not particularly accurate. Eighteenth-century stocks would have been taller, smaller, and more uncomfortable.
The modified stock is an apt metaphor for Colonial Williamsburg today. This 301-acre complex comprises more than 600 restored or rebuilt 18th-century buildings, 30 gardens, five hotels, three theaters, two museums, and a long and complex history of grappling. I’m here. There are questions about authenticity, national identity, and what it means to understand the past “right”.
After decades of declining attendance, financial anxietythe private entity that owns and operates the site, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has reimagined not only part of its structure but also the stories it tells, offering offerings related to Black, Native American, and LGBTQ history. adding or expanding.
And it does so in the midst of bitter partisan battles over American history. ing.
Several conservative activist Colonial Williamsburg accused of doing “woke up” charge also rob Against James Madison’s home of Monticello and Montpelier.but Cliff Fleetthe former tobacco executive who took over as president and CEO of the foundation in early 2020 categorically rejects it.
Fleet describes his approach as leaning toward colonial Williamsburg’s long-standing mission to present a “fact-based history” grounded in rigorous research.
“That’s true for our brand,” he said. “Everything really happened. That’s who we are.”
As any historian would say, telling “what really happened” is not easy. But when it comes to the state of modern colonial his Williamsburg, a few facts speak strongly.
In 2021, the Foundation will record-breaking $102 million, up 42% from the 2019 all-time high. To date, he has raised over $6 million for the excavation and reconstruction of the First Baptist Church, home to one of the earliest black congregations in the United States (established in 1776). ), and over $8 million in the restoration of Bray School, which educated free and enslaved black children in the 1760s and 70s.
These projects have gained support across the political spectrum, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin. February, Governor — Republicans who signed on the first day of office presidential decree Banning critical racial theory and other “intrinsically divisive concepts” from being taught in public schools — speaking at a Bray School event and saying, “All of our history, all of it, good points and bad points”
For some who have been watching Williamsburg for years, the agency’s leadership has navigated today’s choppy political waters by staying true to its past.
“It’s a remarkable change, but in some ways it’s a return to the CW’s original mission,” said the historian, Omohandro Institutean independent research group at the College of William & Mary.
“Decades of research have given us this fuller, richer picture of early America,” said Wolfe. “It’s diverse, it’s complex, it’s violent. But it’s real.”
patriotic shrine
Colonial Williamsburg has its own complex founding story. In the 1920s, local minister With the goal of persuading John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to recreate Virginia’s 18th-century colonial capital down to the historically correct bricks and nails, most of the historic area was quietly demolished. I bought it.
Hundreds of post-1800 structures have been demolished or moved. More than 80 of his surviving 18th-century buildings have been restored, and the foundations of more than 500 of his other buildings have been excavated so that meticulously researched replica structures can be built on top.
After World War II, Colonial Williamsburg became a patriotic shrine and, as one top official put it, “a symbol of democracy in a troubled world.” The bicentennial brought a new boom, with annual paid attendance peaking in his mid-1980s with 1.1 million visitors, many of whom were bedridden. period style Snap up an inn (or permit colonial style home products).
But not everyone appreciates the classy, spice-and-span aesthetic. Architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable, writing for The New York Times in 1963 called it “A brilliantly executed vacuum” fostered “an unforgivable ambiguity between authentic and imitation values.”
Carefully curated history also drew criticism, especially as social history proliferated into academies with its emphasis on ordinary people and marginalized groups.
In the 1770s, more than half Of the town’s 1,800 residents, blacks were blacks.
“Williamsburg: A Patriot’s Story” In 1957, the visitor center began showing a provocative orientation film that included very few black faces. Even into the 1980s, black employees in historic districts generally worked as (costumed) janitor, coachman, and cook.
“It was a very demeaning role.” Consciously and unconsciously, it was.
The change began in 1979, when the Foundation introduced “first person” costumed interpreters playing white and black ordinary people. In 1984, we created a unit dedicated to African-American history. Rex Ellisbecame the foundation’s first black vice president in 2001.
However, the work of this unit sometimes did not coexist well with more traditional presentations.in their 1997 book “New history in an old museum” Anthropologists Richard Handler and Eric Gable explained how black interpreters raise the thorny issue of interracial relationships. “Documented facts”
Some programs centered on the brutal realities of slavery. In 1994, the Office of Black History organized a re-enactment of the slave auction, drawing protests from the NAACP and other civil rights groups. Then in 1999, as part of a year-long project, enslave virginiaone performance featured costumed interpreters playing slave leaders and slave owners, while visitors (who were predominantly white) played the roles of slaves.
Christy Coleman is a former interpreter and current Executive Director. Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, organized and executed at auction in 1994. At the time, she said, “there was a lot of mistrust about what Williamsburg was doing in black history. The backlash “had an emotional toll,” she said.
Coleman said he was impressed with Fleet (whose four degrees from William & Mary include a master’s degree in history) and his commitment to telling a richer story.
“In many ways, these are 30 years old, but they were never given real legs, nor were they given any financial support from the foundation,” she said.
The current direction also has strong board support, according to business executive and former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who took over as chair in December 2020. LGBTQ history Program announced in 2019. However, Fiorina emphasized that they are evidence-based.
Thomas Jefferson “is still here,” she said. But now, “you’ll hear more of the story,” she said. “And you’ll hear more of the story, because it’s true.”
“deliberately hidden”
“Truth” is a word you hear a lot in Williamsburg. Oconostota18th-century Cherokee diplomats who came to Williamsburg in 1777—regularly break character to explain the evidence behind their stories.
According to Fleet, the Foundation’s audience research shows that showing your work builds trust.
“One of the most important things, especially in this age of polarization, is letting them know how you know,” he said.
of First Baptist Church This project shows how Colonial Williamsburg’s storytelling is literally built from the ground up and rooted in discovery and rediscovery in the field.
In 1953, the foundation purchased the church’s mid-19th-century building from the congregation (the congregation built a new building on the other side of town). and demolished it, was customary in buildings after 1800. In 1965 the site was paved and used as a parking lot.
In 1998, James Ingram, a church member working at Colonial Williamsburg, gowan pamphlet, a slave man who was one of the first ministers of the congregation. However, the demolished church remained a point of contention.
Fleet said he decided to proceed with excavation and reconstruction in early March 2020 after meeting with church president Connie Matthews Hershaw. Let Freedom Ring Foundation.
Harshaw was dull. “I said, ‘You should reveal it because you hid it on purpose,'” she recalls.
On a recent tour, the head of archaeology, Jack Gary, described the artifacts unearthed so far, including coins, buttons, figurine fragments, and about 160 straight pins near the entrance to the original building. explained. “What you see here is a woman,” said Gary.
Last month, at a closed-door conference, researchers unveiled DNA tests on bodies from some of the roughly 60 cemeteries discovered so far. Fleet said the entire project is “descendant driven” and permits are sought at every stage.
The Bray School project, a collaboration with William & Mary, is similarly community driven. For decades, black interpreters have regularly spoken out about schools and their students, Coleman said. But no one knew for sure what happened to the building.
I had a hunch that in 2021 it would be moved to the William & Mary Campus and incorporated into a separate building. ConfirmedThe structure was demolished and moved to a site next to the church in February. big ceremony.
After speeches by Governor Youngkin and other dignitaries, and a modest two-story building returned home, a group of schoolchildren have a sign It contained the names of nearly 400 free and enslaved black children.
“This is one of the most powerful examples of how history like this can be done in a way that brings people together,” Fleet said.
