BFW Revisited: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 1

In 1723, the College of William & Mary opened the Brafferton building, a permanent home for an Indian School the college had been chartered to run and struggled to fill for its first 30 years. The premise of the Brafferton: take Native boys and strategically teach them in ways that would make them more useful to the British Empire. So what actually happened inside the Brafferton Indian School? In this revisited episode, the first of a two-part series, our three guests investigate why the Brafferton School existed, how the English filled Brafferton with students even as Native families refused to send their children, and what the Indigenous students did with the knowledge the English taught them. We’ll also explore how a school built on a colonial college campus during the reign of King George I connected to schools like the Carlisle School, which were still separating Indigenous children from their families in the 1950s. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/367 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES: 🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army 🎧 Episode 290: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 1 🎧 Episode 291: The World of the Wampanoag, Pt. 2 🎧 Episode 353: Women and the Making of Catawba Identity 🎧 Episode 368: The Brafferton Indian School, Part 2: Legacies 🎧 Episode 449: Stealing America SUPPORT OUR WORK 🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s World REQUEST A TOPIC 📨 Topic Request Form 📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.com WHEN YOU'RE READY 🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 BFW Listener Community 🌍 The History Explorers Club LISTEN 🎧 🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music 🛜 Pandora CONNECT 🦋 Liz on Bluesky 👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn 🛜 Liz’s Website SAY THANKS 💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts 💚 Leave a rating on Spotify *Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.