Student Enrollment, The Associates of Dr. Bray and their Bray Schools

The Associates of Dr. Bray was officially founded on January 15, 1724, by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray. This Anglican organization attempted to assimilate children of African and Indigenous descent to the beliefs of the Church of England via pro-slavery instruction. Despite these intentions, the records of the Associates offer scholars a unique opportunity to study literacy instruction for Black and Indigenous children in the British Empire immediately prior to the American Revolution. This dataset, documenting student enrollment at Bray schools in the pre-revolutionary period, affords academics, descendants, public historians, and genealogists a chance to recenter the students in these classrooms as actors and agents in narratives surrounding the Associates of Dr. Bray.