WILLIAMSBURG – Visitors who attended Jamestown Rediscovery’s First Africans Commemoration on Saturday heard the stories of two Africans who lived in Jamestown but whose histories were preserved in very different ways.
Historic interpreters Valarie Gray Holmes and Stephen Seals brought those stories to life. Holmes portrayed Angela, one of the first Africans brought to Virginia whose name was recorded. Seals portrayed an unnamed enslaved man who took part in Bacon’s Rebellion.
For both interpreters, bringing those stories to life means more than recounting what happened centuries ago. It means giving visitors a chance to encounter the people behind the history.
“This is a remembrance of human life,” Holmes said. “That’s why I find it important to be part of it.”
The annual commemoration, held Saturday at Historic Jamestowne, has focused on the arrival and experiences of the first Africans in Virginia since it began in 2017. This year’s program also marked the 350th anniversary of Bacon’s Rebellion with a walking tour examining the uprising and its consequences for enslaved Africans.
Holmes has been a historic interpreter for more than 30 years. She said her interest in the field was sparked after watching two interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg portray Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. For her, she was particularly struck by how the two men balanced “their humanity” while also confronting the fact that they both owned slaves.
“I felt like I wanted to hear more about what they had to say,” Holmes said.
Holmes applies the same balance of historical accuracy and accessibility to her portrayal of Angela, which she began in 2017 — a role she plays with an accent and occasional Portuguese words, despite being from New Jersey herself, to reflect the influence of the people who likely took Angela from Angola.
For area resident Susan Parker, who attended Saturday’s performance, the approach made Angela’s story feel personal.
“I almost cried,” Parker said. “The fact that this could have been the story of any young Black woman at the time. I was so enthralled.”
Holmes has seen that kind of personal connection from visitors before. She recalled an encounter from years ago with a young girl who approached her after a performance.
The girl told the performer that she was telling her story.
Holmes did not understand the connection until the girl explained that she and all of her siblings were born in South Africa.
“I was telling the story of her home,” Holmes said. “She was able to connect with Angela…because they were both from the same place.”
Holmes said that encounter was a lesson for her.
“I can think my connection with Angela is because of being Black, being in Virginia,” she said. “This little girl’s story was the reality of not being in her home.”
That interaction between interpreter and visitor is also central to Holmes’ approach.
“There’s always a give and take, I think, when you’re performing … that you may be the one that looks like you’re in charge, but it’s the interaction with other people that moves you to understand more, to be more, to give more and to open up,” she said.
Seals also portrays a person whose actions were recorded but whose name was lost to history, rounding out public historian Mark Summers’ 2 p.m. walking tour on Bacon’s Rebellion. The man he portrays was enslaved by Colonel Thomas Swann, a politician whose Jamestown tavern was burned during the rebellion.
“There’s really a profound sadness in it, too, because in many of the Western African cultures at the time, there was an understanding that the only way a person could be destroyed is by not saying their name or not remembering who they were,” Seals said. “That is a lot of what happens to a number of the people that are here.”
Seals has been a historic interpreter for nearly 18 years, primarily at Colonial Williamsburg, where he portrays Revolutionary War spy James Armistead Lafayette — but like Holmes, he didn’t set out to do historic interpretation.
“It was something I was not as familiar with until I got hired to do it,” Seals said. “Then I went, ‘Oh, this is a much more robust way of telling the story.’”
Seals’ monologue relays the unnamed man’s motivations for joining the rebellion, as well as the racial divide that Bacon’s Rebellion deepened. While white indentured servants were allowed to return to their work, Seals said, the lives of enslaved people became “much more locked down” as racial divisions hardened.
For him, presenting that history as a person rather than solely through an exhibit or tour can change how visitors engage with it.
“I think that’s part of what historic interpretation does — it gives people the content to build their own understanding,” Seals said.
For Seals, that interaction also provides an opportunity for visitors to see themselves in the history being presented.
“I want, when they come here or come to any museum, to be able to see themselves reflected in the history that they’re part of,” he said. “Getting to do that, I know that I’m helping other individuals who are like me know their history, understand their history, love their history and know that their ancestors actually contributed to the making of this country as much as everyone else.”
Seals recalled seeing that connection during his work at Colonial Williamsburg, when he was portraying James Lafayette. A group of schoolchildren who had initially gathered around an interpreter portraying George Washington turned their attention to Seals after recognizing his character.
“They said, ‘Who are you?’ and I said, ‘I’m James Lafayette,’” he said. “And every single child left George Washington to come talk to me.”
The same thing happened with three groups that morning. As one group left, a child told Seals he couldn’t wait to bring his kids back to see him someday.
“It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever been told in my life,” Seals said.
Seals said he values being able to participate in the Bacon’s Rebellion program, particularly as its 350th anniversary brings attention to a part of Virginia history he believes many people do not know.
“There are so many parts of history that they just didn’t spend a whole lot of time teaching us, despite the fact that it’s probably the parts of our history that would help us best understand ourselves,” Seals said.
The First Africans walking tour will be offered daily during Jamestown Rediscovery’s “From Fort to Port: Legacies of 1619” exhibit, with additional showings every Saturday in August.
