During the 18th century, Virginia was home to a large population of people of African descent. Enslaved people were considered chattel property, while free blacks were disenfranchised from the political process. Throughout the month, special programs will be offered in the Historic Area and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum that explore various stories of the people and culture.

Colonial Black Virginians struggled to become recognized as Americans, but their active efforts in seeking freedom and equality serve as a model of citizenship. Join us on this journey to explore the story of a people who challenged the political and societal norms to affect a better future for themselves and the next generation.

Program details will be added to the calendar as they become available.

Designed to help guests plan their visit. Our volunteers and costumed staff lead the 30-minute walks and provide guests with the latest information on programming, dining, and shopping options. Guests also get an overview of the 18th-century community and learn about the restoration of Williamsburg.

Included in all Historic Area or Museum admission passes. Thirty-minute tours depart at 9:30, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30, noon, 1:30, 2, 2:30, and 3.

Enjoy changing exhibitions of American folk art, the colonial and contemporary artists and craftspeople who work outside the mainstream of academic art to record aspects of everyday life. Attend lectures and musical performances in the Hennage Auditorium. Visit the Museum Store and the Museum Café.

View Current Exhibits

Explore the evolution of slavery in Virginia and how African Americans challenged notions of liberty and freedom.

This 25-minute program begins at 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and noon. Included in all Historic Area admission passes.

This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration of Black History Month.

See an extensive collection of American and British antiques. See furniture, metals, ceramics, glass, paintings, prints, firearms, and textiles from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and the Public Hospital of 1773. Attend lectures and musical performances in the Hennage Auditorium. Visit the Museum Store and the Museum Café.

View Current Exhibits

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Almost everyone loves chocolate—even in cooking. Find out how chocolate was used in 18th-century recipes—and the work involved in preparing raw cocoa.

Included in all Historic Area admission passes.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

The Green Room is a place for actors to gather, talk, and share the latest theatrical news while waiting to go on stage. Come join members of our Performing Arts Department for an informal discussion of 18th-century theatre. This is your opportunity to voice your questions, comments, and curiosities.

Included in all Historic Area admission passes.

Come and participate in a local court session where lives, liberties, and property come into contest. Our guests may take on roles as justices, attorneys, litigants, petitioners, or defendants. See how the rights of Virginians were maintained in open court.

Offered Tuesday through Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Program is approximately 30 minutes long.

Included in all Historic Area admission tickets.

Drop in and create a work of art to take home that is inspired by objects in the collection.

Guests may enter and leave at will. Included in all Historic Area or museum admission tickets.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to some of the masterworks on exhibit, such as paintings, ceramics, textiles, furniture, and silver.

Included in all Historic Area or museum admission tickets.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Hear the compelling story of Elizabeth, an enslaved African American woman forced back into slavery after living free with the Shawnee Indians on the western frontier.

Presentations last approximately 25 minutes and begin at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, and 12:30 p.m. Free reservation required along with any Historic Area admission pass.

This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration of Black History Month.

Reservations or additional tickets required.

Drop by to enjoy music played by a member (or two) of Colonial Williamsburg’s resident performing ensemble, The Governor’s Musick. This informal program showcases music for a “chamber” or parlor where good conversation and music were often enjoyed. The program is ongoing. Seating is limited.

Included in all Historic Area admission passes.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

Hear the compelling story of Elizabeth, an enslaved African American woman forced back into slavery after living free with the Shawnee Indians on the western frontier.

Presentations last approximately 25 minutes and begin at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, and 12:30 p.m. Free reservation required along with any Historic Area admission pass.

This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration of Black History Month.

Reservations or additional tickets required.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to the whimsical and fascinating paintings, sculpture, textiles, and more from Mrs. Rockefeller's original collection, for which the museum was founded.

Thirty-minute tours begin at noon and 2 p.m. Included in all Historic Area or museum admission tickets.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Hear the compelling story of Elizabeth, an enslaved African American woman forced back into slavery after living free with the Shawnee Indians on the western frontier.

Presentations last approximately 25 minutes and begin at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, and 12:30 p.m. Free reservation required along with any Historic Area admission pass.

This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration of Black History Month.

Reservations or additional tickets required.

Ticketed event.

Family Film in the City—Paris Double Feathre & Ice Cream Social
Co-sponsored with the 2012 W&M Global Film Festival

This animated feature from filmmakers Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol is a thrilling mystery that unfurls in the alleys and on the rooftops of Paris over the course of one adventurous night. A Cat in Paris is a warm and richly humorous love letter to classic noir films and the stylized with of the Pink Panther cartoons. Co-sponsored with the 2012 W&M Global Film Festival, "Film & the City."

French with subtitles. 70 mins.

• Le ballon rouge/The Red Balloon — noon
• Ice cream social — 12:30 p.m. (Kimball Lobby)
• Un vie de chat/A Cat in Paris (2010) — 1 p.m.
  

Part of the William & Mary French and Francophone Film Festival (WM4F).
General admission $3/program, W&M students $2/program, or purchase a WM4F/Movie+Dinner Pass for ONLY $10 (limited quantity available). For more information, go to http://frenchfilm2012.blogs.wm.edu/

Reservations or additional tickets required. Call 1-800-HISTORY for prices and reservations.

Ticketed event.

Festival opens with a wine and cheese reception on Friday, Jan. 27 at 5:30 p.m. Access to the reception is granted to all ticket and WM4F pass holders.

General admission $3/program, W&M students 42/program, or purchase a WM4F/Movie+Dinner Pass for ONLY $10 (limited quantity available). For more information, go to http://frenchfilm2012.blogs.wm.edu/

Passes will get you into all five film screenings and provide you access to exclusive “Merchants Square Movie + Dinner Specials” offered in conjunction with each of the festival screenings at participating restaurants including: The Blue Talon Bistro, Berret’s Seafood, The Trellis, Seasons, Aroma's, and The Fat Canary (additional restaurants TBA). Theatre and restaurants not responsible for lost passes. For more information on the restaurants, visit http://merchantssquare.org/.

Festival Schedule:

• Paris (2008) - Friday, Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m.
• White Material (2009) - Friday, Feb. 3, 6:30 p.m.
• Kinshasa Symphony (2011) - Friday, Feb 10, 6:30 p.m.
• The Life of a Cat & a Red Balloon: Paris pour les enfants (with ice cream social) - Saturday, Feb. 11 at noon
• Fauteuil d'orchestre/Avenue Montaigne (2007) - Friday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m.

Please see individual calendar listings for film descriptions and run times.

Reservations or additional tickets required. Call 1-800-HISTORY for prices and reservations.

Hear the compelling story of Elizabeth, an enslaved African American woman forced back into slavery after living free with the Shawnee Indians on the western frontier.

Presentations last approximately 25 minutes and begin at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, and 12:30 p.m. Free reservation required along with any Historic Area admission pass.

This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration of Black History Month.

Reservations or additional tickets required.

The world is familiar with the accomplishments of America’s historical giants, men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. The efforts of these great men were essential to the overthrow of tyranny and the establishment of the United States as a self governing republic. But their contributions were made possible only by the often overlooked people of history on whose shoulders these first line patriots stood.

These people, preachers and house servants, enslaved and free, who lived their lives, some heroically and some humbly, were nation builders no less than the Washingtons, Jeffersons and Henrys of history. Have a conversation with Nation Builders as they discuss the "Revolutionary" events that helped to inspire and influence the ideas of their American dream.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to some of the masterworks on exhibit, such as paintings, ceramics, textiles, furniture, and silver.

Included in all Historic Area or museum admission tickets.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to the whimsical and fascinating paintings, sculpture, textiles, and more from Mrs. Rockefeller's original collection, for which the museum was founded.

Thirty-minute tours begin at noon and 2 p.m. Included in all Historic Area or museum admission tickets.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum gratefully acknowledges support for programs from The DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

The theater of the colonial era was often advertised as a "Moral Academy" where the audience could learn from the characters on stage. Not all of the characters, however, were role models. 

The 18th-century stage is full of scheming, backstabbing, and intrigue. You might be surprised to see how little things have changed in the last 250 years.

Included in all Historic Area or museum admission passes.

Drop by to enjoy music played by a member (or two) of Colonial Williamsburg’s resident performing ensemble, The Governor’s Musick. This informal program showcases music for a “chamber” or parlor where good conversation and music were often enjoyed. The program is ongoing. Seating is limited.

Included in all Historic Area admission passes.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

Is the theater a moral academy or the devil’s chapel? It’s the church vs. the stage! Hear sermons and letters from both sides of the argument brought to life as fiery rhetoric and comic quips meet head to head. Join members of the Performing Arts Department as they take a look at the debate over theater’s place in society, focusing on audiences in London and Virginia, the Church of England, and the famous Methodist preacher, George Whitefield.

Included in all Historic Area admission tickets.