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Before Central Park: The Story of Seneca Village · Health and Healing Dealing with Trauma and Addictions

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, this your man Mike D.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you guys know I love a little bit of good history.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I want to pose a question to you, and that is before Central Park.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Was ever Central Park?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know the story of Seneca Village was a part of Central Park?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Before Central Park was created, the landscape along was now the park's perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Street was the site of Seneca Village, a community of predominantly American Africans, many of whom owned property.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: By 1855, the village consisted of approximately 225 residents, made up roughly of two-thirds American African Americans, one-third Irish immigrants, and a small number of individuals of German descent.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: One of the few American African enclaves at the time.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Seneca Village allowed residents to live away from the more built-up sections of downtown Manhattan and escaped the unhealthy conditions and racial discrimination that they faced there.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Seneca Village began in 1825 when landowners in the area, John and Elizabeth Whitehead, subdivided their land and sold it as 200 lots.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Andrew Williams, a 25-year-old black shoe shiner, brought the first three lots for$125.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Epiphany Davis, a store cloak, bought 12 lots for$578.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the AME Zion Church purchased another six lots.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: From there, a community was born.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: From 1825 to 1832, the Whiteheads sold about half of their land parcels to other people of color.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The landscape of Seneca Village gives us a glimpse of the island's natural history, as well as the intentions of park builders, and can also help us imagine the motivations and activities of the area's residents.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Historians speculate that black New Yorks living downtown began moving to Seneca Village in part to escape the racist climate and unhealthy conditions of Lower Manhattan.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: According to census records from 1855, the village consisted of approximately 225 residents, made up of roughly two-thirds African Americans, one-third of Irish immigrants, and a small number of individuals of German descent.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: By the 1830s, there were approximately 10 homes in the village.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: There is some evidence that residents had gardens, raised livestock in Seneca Village, and the nearby Hudson River was likely the source of fishing for the community.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: A nearby spring known as Tanner's Spring provided water source.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: By the mid-1850s, Seneca Village comprised 50 homes and three churches, as well as burial grounds and a school for African American students.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Seneca Village contained three churches, anchoring not only religious but also political and social life for people of color.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: African Union Church, built around 1840.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: AME Zion Church, built in 1853, were both satellite locations for churches based downtown.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: All Angels Church, built in 1849, was established as a mission by St.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Michael's Episcopal Church, a congregation of Upper West Side, and was attended by both people of color and non-color alike.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody said the 1800s, y'all.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: For American Africans, Seneca Village offered the opportunity to live in an autonomous community far from the densely populated downtown area.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Despite New York State's abolish of slavery in 1827, discrimination was still prevalent throughout New York City and severely limited the lives of people of color.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Seneca Village's remote location likely provided a refuge from this climate.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It also would have provided an escape from the unhealthy and crowded conditions of that city.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: The access to more space, both inside and outside of their homes.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Compared to other people of color living in New York, residents of Seneca Village seemed to have been more stable and prosperous.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: By 1855, approximately half of them owned their own homes.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: With property ownership came other rights not commonly held by people of color in the city, namely their rights to vote.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Why in 2026 are we still talking about the right to vote, voter registration, and voter fraud?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: In 1821, New York State required men of color to own at least$250 in property and hold residency for at least three years to be able to vote.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Of the 100 black New Yorkers eligible to vote in 1845, 10 lived in Seneca Village.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that many residents were property owners contradicts some common misconceptions during the mid-19th century that the people living on the lands slated for the park were poor squatters living in shanty houses and run down shacks.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: While some residents lived in shanties in a little bit of crowdedness, most lived in two-story homes.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Census records show that residents were employed with American Africans, typically employed as laborers and in some service jobs.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The main options for them at the time?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Records also show that most children who lived in Seneca Village attended school.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: During the early 1850s, the city began planning for a large municipal park to counter unhealthful urban conditions and provide space for recreation.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: In 1853, the New York State legislator enacted a law that set aside 775 acres of land in Manhattan, from 59th Street to 106th Streets, between 5th and 8th Avenues, to create the country's first major landscape public park.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: There were many debates in the public sphere of the effects of the urban growth.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Between 1845 and 1855, the city's population doubled.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: The choice of location for this unprecedented public space, of course, was not without controversy.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: The city acquired the land through eminent domain.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they did.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The law that allows the government to take private land for public use with compensation paid to the landowner.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pennies on a dollar.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: This was common practice in the 19th century and had been used to build Manhattan's grid of streets decades earlier.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: There were roughly 1,600 inhabitants displaced throughout the area.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Although landowners were compensated, many argue that their land was undervalued.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, all residents had to leave by the end of 1857.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Research is underway to determine where Seneca Village residents relocated.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some may have gone to other American African communities in the region, such as Sandy Ground in Staten Island and Skunk Hollow in New Jersey.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Although we have limited knowledge of what life was like in Seneca Village, there has been ongoing work to learn more about its residents and their lives.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: In 2011, archaeologists from Columbia University and the University of New York conducted a dig of the site.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: They uncovered artifacts such as an iron tea kettle, roasting pan, a stoneware beer bottle, fragments of Chinese esports porcelain, and a small shoe with a leather sole and fabric upper.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: These items have helped them to piece together what life was like in Seneca Village as their residence.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Despite its short history of only 32 years, Seneca Village was understood as a tight-knit community that served as a stabilizing and empowering force in uncertain times.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine Seneca Village thriving.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine Rosewood.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine Tulsa.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: These communities were sprung up all over the nation.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, because of controversy, each of these communities were damaged and destroyed and obliterated.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Before Central Park, there's a great story of Seneca Village.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you all enjoyed that story.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: It just brings joy to my spirit because I know the history of America and Seneca Village speaks volumes, volumes to the people who labored and worked to own property and land in America.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Against the odds, man, these are feel good stories.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: These people worked hard, shine shoes, clean houses, hard labor to own property and land, only to see it all disappear.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you, their labor is not in vain.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: What an awesome historical story about Seneca Village and the people who made a way for us today.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: God bless.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Bye now.