In 1825, a small group of Black New Yorkers purchased land and founded Seneca Village, an intentional activist community in upper Manhattan built on the ideals of their shared social, political, and religious organizations. For three decades the neighborhood grew to include multiple schools, churches, and cemeteries. Many established lives that redefined the meaning of freedom —owning their homes, supporting organizations, voting, tending gardens, and establishing businesses. The community thrived and eventually became home to immigrants from Ireland and Germany. In the 1850s, however, New York City began to displace the residents, seize their land, and destroy their homes to make way for the construction of Central Park. With their settlement razed, residents scattered and researchers have been unable to locate most of them after Seneca Village. Until now.
New York City, NY; NYC