For the last two years, Woodberry Forest School senior Jayden Crosby-Brewer has researched the lives of the enslaved people who lived on and cared for the land prior to the school’s founding, when the site, north of Orange in Madison County, served as the home of William T. Madison, brother of former President James Madison.
On Saturday, May 16, community members will have an opportunity to celebrate the results of that research. During a commemoration ceremony at 2 p.m., Woodberry Forest School will recognize 53 individuals, enslaved by William Madison, whose labor and legacies are inextricable from the history of the school, and from the larger history of Madison County.
Crosby-Brewer said that his interest in researching this topic was initially sparked by a comment at a Woodberry Forest graduation ceremony…