THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 28, 1996 TAG: 9609280001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Kerry Dougherty
LENGTH: 75 lines
I don't care what the calendar says, September seems like New Years' even if it's not time to uncork the champagne and watch the ball drop in Times Square. It must be some mutated hope-springs-eternal gene from our school days that causes some of us to make more resolutions now than in late December.
So far I've made and kept one.
This year I vowed that when my children had a school holiday I would engage them in some enriching experience. No more sleeping in, running errands or washing the car. This year we would make those days off as educational as any they spend in school.
We're off to a stellar start.
Last week, when my daughter's school had a holiday, we drove to Colonial Williamsburg where I boldly splurged on ``Patriot's Passes'' for both of us. For the uninitiated, these are the Cadillacs of Williamsburg tickets, providing unlimited visits to the historic area for one year.
I figured these pricey tickets alone would be a powerful incentive for us to return even if the trip seemed tedious.
I needn't have worried about tedium. By day's end, I could barely drag my second-grader away.
And it wasn't just the colonial bake shop or the obligatory trip to the public stockades that enthralled her. The highlight of her day - and mine - was ``The Other Half'' walking tour we took on this sun-drenched September afternoon.
Colonial Williamsburg interpreter Michael Lord led a group of about 30 of us up and down the unpaved roads telling us about the invisible Williamsburg - the African Americans who made up 52 percent of the population of Virginia's capital in the 18th century.
While other tour groups bustled by on their way in and out of buildings, we on the ``The Other Half'' tour wandered leisurely from shade tree to shade tree, while Lord leaned on his African walking stick and painted a vivid - sometimes chilling - picture of what life was probably like for the 1,500 blacks who called Williamsburg home in the 1700s.
What we were seeing when we gazed on the neat white clapboard houses that line Duke of Gloucester Street, were unusual dwelling places, even for whites of that period, Lord said. Because Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia, and Virginia was one of the richest colonies, the folks who lived along its main street were members of the privileged gentry class. Most whites were farmers who lived outside of the one-mile-long town. Their houses were simple log cabins with dirt floors.
The domestic slaves who populated Williamsburg didn't live in those fine houses, either. They slept in cramped quarters above the out buildings where they worked - the laundries, the kitchens and in the stables .
As Lord spoke I could almost see the slaves going about Williamsburg's dirty work while the gentry enjoyed lives of enormous privilege.
The story he told began long before Williamsburg was founded, however. The Other Half tour begins with the history of the slave trade to the New World, through Virginia's switch from indentured servitude to slavery in the 17th century.
Colonial Williamsburg has taken its share of knocks over the years from travel writers who have criticized it for presenting a sanitized version of history. Others have dismissed Williamsburg as more of a theme park than a living historical village.
After spending part of an afternoon with Lord, I beg to disagree.
The Other Half tour has been part of Colonial Williamsburg since 1979 and is one of its most popular twice-daily walks. In 1988 the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation created a department of AfricanAmerican Interpretation and Presentations which staffs the tour and many other African-American events.
This 15-member department researches African-American history by poring over census and court records, letters, diaries and runaway slave ads to gleen details of what slave life was like more than 200 years ago.
They share their findings with visitors to Colonial Williamsburg through this tour and many other events. They also speak to churches, schools and civic organizations on the subject of Virginia's peculiar institution of slavery - all the while painting an unforgettable picture of how the other half lived.
by CNB