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ATLANTA (AP) â Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world â Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nationâs highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. âMy faith demands â this is not optional â my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,â Carter once said. A president from Plains A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixonâs disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. âIf I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, donât vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,â Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, womenâs rights and Americaâs global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carterâs electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 âWhite House Diaryâ that he could be âmicromanagingâ and âexcessively autocratic,â complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washingtonâs news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. âIt didnât take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,â Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had âan inherent incompatibilityâ with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives â to âprotect our nationâs security and interests peacefullyâ and âenhance human rights here and abroadâ â even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. And then, the world Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. âI was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,â Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. âI wanted a place where we could work.â That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carterâs stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went âwhere others are not treading,â he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. âI can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that donât,â Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clintonâs White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized Americaâs approach to Israel with his 2006 book âPalestine: Peace Not Apartheid.â And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the centerâs many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committeeâs 2002 Peace Prize cites his âuntiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.â Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. âThe world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,â he said. âThe greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.â âAn epic American lifeâ Carterâs globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little âJimmy Carters,â so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house â expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents â where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washingtonâs National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged Americaâs historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. âI am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,â Stuart Eizenstat, Carterâs domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. âHe was not a great presidentâ but also not the âhapless and weakâ caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was âgood and productiveâ and âdelivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.â Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clintonâs secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstatâs forward that Carter was âconsequential and successfulâ and expressed hope that âperceptions will continue to evolveâ about his presidency. âOur country was lucky to have him as our leader,â said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for âan epic American lifeâ spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. âHe will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,â Alter told The Associated Press. A small-town start James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carterâs political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archeryâs tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 â then and now â Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office â he later called it âinconceivableâ not to have consulted her on such major life decisions â but this time, she was on board. âMy wife is much more political,â Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasnât long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 â losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox â and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist âDixiecratsâ as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Courtâs Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as âCufflinks Carl.â Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. âI say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,â he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. âJimmy Who?â His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leaderâs home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democratsâ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: âJimmy Who?â The Carters and a âPeanut Brigadeâ of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carterâs ability to navigate Americaâs complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared âborn-again Christian,â Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he âhad looked on many women with lust. Iâve committed adultery in my heart many times.â The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced â including NBCâs new âSaturday Night Liveâ show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter âFritzâ Mondale as his running mate on a âGrits and Fritzâ ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first ladyâs office. Mondaleâs governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname âJimmyâ even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Bandâs âHail to the Chief.â They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washingtonâs social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that âhe hated politics,â according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Accomplishments, and âmalaiseâ Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nationâs second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s â after Carter left office. He built on Nixonâs opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldnât immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his âmalaiseâ speech, although he didnât use that word. He declared the nation was suffering âa crisis of confidence.â By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said heâd âkick his ass,â but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with âmake America great againâ appeals and asking voters whether they were âbetter off than you were four years ago.â Reagan further capitalized on Carterâs lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: âThere you go again.â Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostagesâ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. âA wonderful lifeâ At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with âno idea what I would do with the rest of my life.â Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. âI thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,â Carter told the AP in 2021. âBut itâs turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.â Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. âIâm perfectly at ease with whatever comes,â he said in 2015 . âIâve had a wonderful life. Iâve had thousands of friends, Iâve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.â ___ Former Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report.By LOLITA BALDOR and FATIMA HUSSEIN WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) â President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an âAmerica Firstâ national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account, and said âHe was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!â Kellogg, an 80 year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trumpâs top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russiaâs February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months. Trump has criticized the billions that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine. Washington has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. The incoming Republican president has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Instituteâs Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the groupâs policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundationâs âProject 2025,â is a move to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that âbringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.â Trumpâs proposed national security advisor U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) tweeted Wednesday that âKeith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.â Kellogg was a character in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Penceâs national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden âs victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: âYouâre not tough enough to make the call.â Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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People visit an exhibition of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD at the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany, Nov. 29. AP-Yonhap Chinese carmakers eye Korea to offset falling sales in Europe BYD is expected to make quicker inroads into the Korean market by leveraging potential ties with Affinity Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm that holds management rights for the two largest rental car companies in the country, industry officials and experts said, Thursday. The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker is nearing the completion of preparations for passenger car sales in Korea, ahead of its official debut in January. The company is the world's largest EV manufacturer based on global sales volume. BYD's upcoming debut may not pose an immediate threat to Korean competitors, given the relatively low perception of Chinese vehicles among local customers. However, market watchers acknowledge the possibility that the EV giant could gradually build its brand awareness by supplying its flagship EV models to major rental car operators. "Korean customers still have limited trust in Chinese vehicles, but this could change as the perception of BYD improves after a significant number of the company's EVs are supplied to rental car firms nationwide," said an official from the local auto industry. In June, Affinity took over a controlling stake in SK Rent-a-Car, the nationâs second-largest rental car business operator. Early this month, Affinity was named the preferred bidder to acquire Lotte Rental, the market leader in the sector. As of the end of September, the two firmsâ combined market share reached over 35 percent here, operating some 450,000 rental cars. BYD's K9 electric bus / Courtesy of BYD âIf BYD clears away any lingering concerns over its quality and draws more favorable responses from customers, the carmaker will be able to expand its footing, as was the case with Chinese EV buses which have achieved robust growth here for the past few years,â the official said. In 2019, Chinese electric buses accounted for just 23.9 percent of the market in Korea, but this figure surged to 54.1 percent last year, driven by their unmatched price competitiveness. Experts have raised concerns that the share of Chinese EV makers in the Korean market is likely to grow, as the country is unable to impose significant sanctions through tariffs. âKorea will not be able to impose countervailing duties on Chinese EVs, as the local economy is highly vulnerable to retaliatory measures from China (due to Koreaâs strong trade reliance on China),â said Kim Pil-soo, an automotive technology professor at Daelim University College. According to data from auto market tracker DataForce, Chinese EVs have experienced sluggish growth in Europe due to punitive tariffs on vehicles imported from the worldâs second-largest economy. In November, Chinese EVs accounted for 7.4 percent of the European EV market, a decrease of 0.8 percentage point from the previous month and the lowest figure since March of this year. However, the scenario is not feasible in Korea whose economy is heavily reliant on trade with China, according to Kim. Starting with BYD, several other Chinese EV makers are set to enter the Korean market, hoping to replicate their success in the EV bus market and expand their foothold in the passenger EV sector, the expert said. "There is a growing likelihood that the market share of Chinese passenger EVs will increase in Korea, which could pose a threat to Korea's key industrial sectors, such as EVs and batteries," he said. To remove this article -Bloomington businesses have been planning ahead for Illinois minimum wage increase to $15
Towards the end of Sundayâs 2-0 loss at Liverpool, Guardiola was subjected to chants that he would be âsacked in the morningâ from Reds fans and responded by holding up six fingers, to represent the number of Premier League titles he has won with City. Two days later, when was asked about former Chelsea boss Mourinho holding up three fingers before being axed by Manchester United in 2018, he said: âI hope not in my case. Maybe in the end we are quite similar, (and Iâm) like Jose. But he won three, I won six.â Mourinho, now in charge at Fenerbahce, on Friday was quoted by Turkeyâs Sporx as saying: âI want to win, but I want to win cleanly and fairly. He (Guardiola) won six trophies and I won three, but I won fair and clean. If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent for being better than me. I donât want to win by dealing with 150 cases.â City were charged with 115 alleged breaches of top-flight financial rules in February 2023, and with failing to co-operate with the subsequent investigation. The club have denied the charges and an outcome is expected next year. Asked about Mourinhoâs remarks at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturdayâs trip to Crystal Palace, Guardiola said: âIt was a joke. But heâs another one in the huge list that they want the team being in, I donât know, League One or the Conference. âI would say to Jose the same â we are innocent until proven guilty, and after that we will see what happens. It is what it is. It was completely a joke. âI think both with our teams, him with Chelsea, myself with Man City, we can sit at the table with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger (who won 13 league titles with United and three with Arsenal respectively), right? For the many, many titles we won. âIf I have offended him (Mourinho) Iâm so sorry, but it was a joke. The fact is he has three and I have six. This is a fact. But the intention was completely fine. âIt is another one from the huge list in this country and more around the world that want us at the bottom. âItâs OK, itâs fine. Iâve said many times wait for the sentence and everyone, especially in democracy, is innocent until proven guilty. Right? So weâll wait, and after weâll see.â As well as the six league titles, Cityâs haul of silverware since Guardiola took charge in 2016 includes two FA Cups and four League Cups, and he has also overseen them winning the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup. Guardiola was asked if he had ever envisaged it being as good as it has been when he arrived at the club, and the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach said: âNo. I remember many people say âhe wins because itâs Barcelona with Leo Messi and the other onesâ, I had to prove it in England. OK, we did it.â The result at Anfield was a sixth defeat in a seven-game winless run for City, and fourth league loss in a row â a sequence they then ended with Wednesdayâs 3-0 home victory over Nottingham Forest. The champions currently lie fourth, nine points behind Arne Slotâs leaders Liverpool, and Guardiola said: âWe broke that bad run. Always itâs not easy when you donât win for a long time, and now you break it and we have to try to continue with the players, the spirit we show, and weâll see what happens.â The last two matches have seen Stefan Ortega play in goal, with Ederson on the bench, and asked what the latter had to do to get back in the team, Guardiola said: âHe needs the manager to select him. This is what he needs, itâs simple.â
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Thanksgiving isn't traditionally the time for receiving gifts, but that's not stopping Digital Extremes from doing a giveaway of its own. The developer behind Warframe is offering its 2008 third-person shooter Dark Sector for free, but you only have until November 30 to claim it. Digital Extremes shared the announcement on X, as well as Dark Sector's page on Steam where the game is temporarily yours for the taking. Digital Extremes credits Dark Sector for inspiring Warframe, and the game was initially released on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The story puts players in control of covert operative Hayden Tenno as he embarks on a mission behind enemy lines in the Eastern European nation of Lasria. He'll soon discover that there's a deadly secret that leaves him infected by a bio-weapon called the Technocyte Virus. Ordinarily, the Technocyte virus turns its victims into mindless killing machines. Hayden avoided that fate--for now at least--and he's been left with superhuman abilities that may give him the edge if he wants to make it out of Lasria alive. During the summer, Digital Extremes offered up a preview for Warframe's next expansion, Warframe: 1999 . The story thrusts players on an alternate Earth, and it looks very intriguing so far. Additionally, Digital Extremes granted a child's Make-A-Wish to be a voice actor in the upcoming expansion when it arrives later this year. If you're looking for more recent games and big sales, check out our Black Friday roundup !Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dies at 100
Robert Carter Nicholas IV, a descendant of the local administrator of the 18th-century Williamsburg Bray School, visited Williamsburg on Monday and took a tour of the restored school building that his ancestor supported. Robert Carter Nicholas Sr., known as âthe treasurerâ because he served from 1766 to 1775 as the last treasurer of the Colony of Virginia, served as one of the trustees of the Bray School, a charity school for free and enslaved Black children encouraged by Benjamin Franklin. The school was in operation from 1760 to 1774. Accompanying Nicholas IV on the visit were his sons, Robert Carter Nicholas V, 22, a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and James Wilson Nicholas, 18, a student at Elon University in North Carolina. Nicholas IV and his family have lived for the past 11 years in Madrid, Spain, having earlier lived in the Washington, D.C., area. His sons, while on Thanksgiving break, were scheduled to visit their grandmother in Washington; their father arranged to join them. Because they were going to be nearby, he suggested they visit Williamsburg and the Bray School to learn more about their ancestor and his relationship with the school. Several years ago, while âlooking up my family tree on Ancestry.com, I learned about their connection with William & Mary. I then looked at William & Mary and found out about the Bray School,â Nicholas IV said. âThe family has long known about Robert Carter Nicholas and his important position in colonial Virginia, but not about the Bray School and its history.â The building that housed the school is being restored by Colonial Williamsburg, and earlier this month was dedicated in the 250th anniversary year of the schoolâs closing. While the school isnât scheduled to be fully open to the public until next year, the Nicholas family was able to get a tour while in the area. Dani Jaworski, manager of the Colonial Williamsburg Architectural Collection, was on hand Monday to explain the restoration effort and help answer questions as the Nicholas family toured the building, which sits at the corner of South Nassau and West Francis streets. She agreed that it was rare for a descendant of a colonial resident to visit Colonial Williamsburg. Nicholas V was very interested in various holes in the original wood beams in the buildingâs first floor. He was told that the holes and discoloration were because of the lathes used for the original plaster of the walls. He also asked about the stairway and banister that he was told were original to the building. âIâm amazed that wood that formed the building,â he said looking around the structure, âis still here more than 200 years. It is also impressive that the building has survived its several moves, including the most recentâ to the current site in February 2023. Nicholas IV was impressed with the way the Bray School would be presented to the public and how much extensive research had been done in recent years. âIt was nice that an ancestor had played an important role in making it a reality,â he added. Jaworski pointed out that Black descendants of the schoolâs students recently had signed their names to a portion of the restored structure. The family took an opportunity to look at the signatures that had brought the schoolâs history up to the present day. A letter from Nicholas Sr., on Nov. 17, 1774, to the Rev. John Waring of Associates of the Bray School in London, told of the schoolâs status. Nicholas Sr. wrote that Ann Wager âof the Negro School at Williamsburgâ had died. âSeeing no prospectâ of a continuation, the school was closed. From late 1761 until its closure, Nicholas Sr. had been the principle contact between the school and its London-based supporters. In addition to âmanagingâ the school, the family learned that Nicholas Sr. also arranged for two of his enslaved children, living in town, to attend. In a Sept. 13, 1765, letter also to Waring, he wrote, âI have a Negro Girl (most probably) in my Family, who was taught at this School upwards of three Years & made as good a progress as most.â Another girl, Sarah, born in 1769, also attended in the late years of the school. Both studentsâ names are found in the list of school children provided by Nicholas to the Bray Associates. In correspondence with the associates, Nicholas explained the schoolâs plans there were âby no Means calculated to instruct the Slaves in dangerous Principles (i.e., freedom), but on the contrary ... to reform their Manners; & by making them good Christians they would necessarily become better Servants.â Over the years, the building has survived centuries of use, renovations and enlargements and a move from its original site in 1930. It was rediscovered in 2020 by retired William & Mary professor Terry L. Meyers. As he stood on the buildingâs first floor, Nicholas IV expressed âmixed feelings of an ancestor being a slave holder,â but was pleased that the ancestor was actively involved in doing something good for the students at the school. âWe all have a duty to history, accept the realities of it, and try to understand especially the aspects that might make us uncomfortable.â The Bray School in Williamsburg was formed in 1760 with William & Mary President Thomas Dawson and William Hunter, the printer of the Virginia Gazette, as the primary trustees. Dawson died later in 1760 and was succeeded by the subsequent W&M President the Rev. William Yates. In 1761, Hunter asked Nicholas Sr. to join the trustees. Hunter died later in the year after the death of Yates in 1764. Nicholas Sr. operated the school largely on his own. Born in 1728, Nicholas Sr. was a prominent lawyer, patriot, legislator and judge. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and its successor, the Virginia House of Delegates. As a burgess he served from James City County from 1766 to 1776 and as a delegate in 1776 to 1777. He was judge of the High Court of Chancery of Virginia when he died in 1780. Virginia politician Edmund Randolph, a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and Virginia governor in 1786, described Nicholas Sr. as having a âcomplacent temper; in all his actions he was benevolent and liberal.â Nicholas IV, works in internet technologies, is the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas Sr. and descends from Wilson Cary Nicholas, one of Nicholas Sr.âs several sons. Wilson Cary Nicholas, a William & Mary alumnus like his father, served as a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1799. He was governor of Virginia from 1814-1816. He was born in 1761 in Williamsburg; later he owned a plantation in Albemarle County. Wilson Cary Nicholas also served in the Virginia House of Delegates and in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is buried in the Jefferson burial ground at Monticello, where he lived with his daughter, who was married to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, grandson of President Thomas Jefferson. The legacy of Wilson Cary Nicholas includes Nicholas County in West Virginia and Nicholas Hall, a dormitory at William & Mary. Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com