1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. So today, uh, 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: we're going to cover another topic that has been on 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: my list for a while. And it's you know, Tracy 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: and I often talk about our lists and their length, 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: and sometimes something will be on the list and you're 8 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: really into it, but then as as you're working on 9 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: other projects, other things kind of move around. It's a 10 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,919 Speaker 1: very shifting list for me anyway, Oh me too. Um. 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: And then my memory was jogged about this particular topic 12 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: by contemporary television, as is often the case, specifically the 13 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,599 Speaker 1: Apple TV Plus animated series Central Park. That show did 14 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: not sponsor this episode, but it does include a song 15 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: in its opening that very briefly mentions the people that 16 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: lived in New York Central Park before it was Central Park, 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: and it kind of makes it a joke that, hey, 18 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: we don't talk about that. Um. This was a reference 19 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: to Seneca Villege and that reminder of it put it 20 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: back at the top of the list for me. And 21 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: Seneca Village is significant because this story features a predominantly 22 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: black community in New York that built itself from the 23 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: ground up. But this story is also fragmented because even 24 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: though it existed at a time when it could have 25 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: been fairly well documented, there was a vested interest in 26 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: erasing it. And we're going to talk about that. But 27 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: first we will talk about the island of Manhattan and 28 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: how this one area of it came to be sold 29 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: off in lots and thus became Seneca Village. So if 30 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: you're looking into the story, the story of Seneca Village 31 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: often is told with the beginning being the selling of 32 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: land by John and Elizabeth Whitehead, but that of course 33 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: leaves out how the white Heads came into possession of 34 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: that land. So first, what we really have to do 35 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: is talk about Manhattan and how it went from being 36 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: indigenous land to being the property of Europeans. Manhattan Island was, 37 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: according to the version from the point of view of 38 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: Western his Tree that you have probably heard many times before, 39 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: purchased from indigenous tribes in the area by Peter Minuit, 40 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: the first director of the New Netherlands Province, in sixty six, 41 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: and the purchase price was, according to these accounts, and 42 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: depending on the source you look at sixty guilders about 43 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: the value of a pound and a half of silver 44 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: at the time, or twenty four dollars sometimes, or you'll 45 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: see it said that it was just a bunch of 46 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: beads and trinkets. So this entire purchase, though, is a 47 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: moment in history that's difficult to untangle. It's even harder 48 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: to substantiate. For one, the primary source on that transaction 49 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: is a letter written by Peter Shagan, who was the 50 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: representative of the States General in the Assembly of the 51 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: nineteen of the West India Company. This is a letter 52 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: he wrote back to the West India Company and he stated, quote, 53 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: they have purchased the island Manhattans from the Indians for 54 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: the value of sixty guilders. But that is the entirety 55 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: of the contemporary documentation. That alleged purchase has also been 56 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: represented in various painted depictions, as the Dutch representative showing 57 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: the Lenape leaders a trunk of various European items, ostensibly 58 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: as goods that they were intending to trade for the land. Right. So, um, 59 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: not that those paintings are intended to be historically accurate accounts, 60 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 1: But even if that were the case, it's just completely 61 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: muddling what the actual situation was because these depictions unsurprisingly 62 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: make out those indigenous leaders as foolish enough to trade 63 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: their land for beads or something similarly worthless. Uh. This 64 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: hearkens back to our prior episode that we did on 65 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: Thomas Harriet, who wrote the influential book A Brief and 66 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: True Report of the Newfoundland of Virginia, in which he 67 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: characterized the indigenous population of North America as easily awed 68 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: by Europeans and thus easy to manipulate. And if you 69 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: recall that episode, that book was very popular lear in 70 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: Europe and got republished a whole bunch of times and 71 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: kind of became the foundation of how Europeans saw North 72 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: American indigenous people's and that frequently cited number of twenty 73 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: four dollars as the purchase price was literally just something 74 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,679 Speaker 1: that got calculated out as that story was written about 75 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: in subsequent years, it was an estimate by historians that 76 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 1: then started to be relayed as though it was fact. Plus, 77 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: this whole story puts a lot of significance on one 78 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: line in a letter. That one line is just casually 79 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: reported with no nuance, and it was written by somebody 80 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: with a minimal understanding of the indigenous people he was 81 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: referring to. That understanding minimal at best. I mean, he 82 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: really did not know a lot. It conveniently leaves out 83 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: the probability that those people probably did not see the 84 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: situation in the same way as the Dutch, who were 85 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: seeing it as a business deal. The idea of land 86 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: as property, as something you could own, was not even 87 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 1: part of how their culture functioned. It's entirely possib but 88 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: that the Lenape were seeing the goods being presented by 89 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: Manuet as a gift or as an offering to garner 90 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: permission to live on the same land as the Lenape 91 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: people who were already living on Manhattan. Modern day Lenape 92 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: people have stated that memorials in New York that reference 93 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: the sale of Manhattan are perpetuating a fabricated myth. Um. 94 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: We have talked some more about like the nuances of 95 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: how a different, totally different indigenous people, but still indigenous 96 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,479 Speaker 1: people in North America were thinking about land use in 97 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: that episode earlier this year on King Philip's War. Yeah, yeah, um, 98 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: it is that thing where obviously this whole story that 99 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: we get normally is from the white European lens, but 100 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: Regardless of all of that lost nuance, the Dutch did 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: believe that they had ownership, and they made Manhattan the 102 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: center of their colonization efforts, and when frustrated that the 103 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: Lenape were not moving out, they built a wall around 104 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 1: their new city in the sixteen sixties to keep the 105 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: indigenous people out of it. It also kept out the 106 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: English for a time. England took control of New Netherlands 107 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty four and renamed it New York. This is, 108 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: of course, part of much bigger conflicts that were going 109 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: on in the sixteen seventies. The Dutch once again regained 110 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: control of the island briefly, but it ultimately reverted to 111 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: English rule in the sixteen seventy four Treaty of Westminster. 112 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: And of course, after the Revolutionary War, it was part 113 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: of the United States and became land that got sold 114 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: off by the government in various ways. So as we're 115 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: talking about the section of Manhattan that became Seneca Village 116 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: being farmland that was owned by John and Elizabeth Whitehead, 117 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: that's the backstory before it passed into the white European 118 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: real estate cycle. The white Heads had purchased the property 119 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty four, and then they partitioned it into 120 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: lots to resell. The area that made up Seneca Village 121 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 1: was about five acres in total. I've also seen it 122 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 1: listed as almost seven uh and it sits in the 123 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: strip between Seventh and A Avenues running from present day 124 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: eighty two Street to eighty ninth Street. In the lots 125 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: that would become Seneca Village went up for sale, and 126 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: while it is very hard to imagine if you're familiar 127 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: with New York City today, that area was considered remote 128 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: enough from the main city that the land there was 129 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: fairly inexpensive. Fifty lots were sold in total over the 130 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: course of several years. The first purchaser was Andrew Williams, 131 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: who was a bootblack and a resident of Downtown. He 132 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: bought three lots for a hundred and twenty five dollars. 133 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: The next two people who bought lots were Epiphany Davis, 134 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: who bought twelve lots for five hundred and seventy eight dollars, 135 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: and John Carter. And all three of these first three 136 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: buyers were black. That's notable considering that New York's date 137 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: a final emancipation was still two years away. You'll recall, 138 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: of course, that New York had this like very stepped 139 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: in gradual way of eliminating slavery, and they weren't to 140 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: the end of that yet. Two of these buyers, Epiphany 141 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: Davis and Andrew Williams, were also members of the African 142 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Epiphany was actually a church trustee, 143 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: and that church was the city's first black church, and 144 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: at the time it was described as possibly being the 145 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: largest and wealthiest black church in the country. It's unclear 146 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: exactly how Williams and Davis had heard about the white 147 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,119 Speaker 1: Heads land for sale, but word clearly spread through the church. 148 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: A week after the first lots were sold, the church 149 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: itself purchased several connected lots from the white Heads. Amy 150 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: Zion lost their access to the city's Potter's Field in 151 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: eighteen seven when that land was reallocated to become Washington 152 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: Square Park, and at that point several of the churches 153 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: lots in Seneca Village were set aside to develop them 154 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: into a cemetery. Purchases of the white Head land, made 155 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: by prominent leaders within the church continued for several years. 156 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: By the time all fifty lots were sold by the 157 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: White heads. In eighteen thirty two, twenty four of them 158 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: had been purchased by black residents of the city. Seneca 159 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: Village had formed, although where that name came from is 160 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: still unknown today. In case people are like, well, obviously 161 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: the Seneca lived in New York. That's true, but like, 162 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: we don't we don't know how the village came to 163 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: be called that. We'll talk about it in a minute, 164 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: But there are often when you see the village referred 165 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: to in contemporary papers of the day, it is referred 166 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: to with a racial slur. So in just a moment, 167 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,599 Speaker 1: we will talk about other black communities of historical significance 168 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: to contextualized Seneca Village a little bit, But first we 169 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:42,199 Speaker 1: will pause for a word from a sponsor. We recently 170 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: talked on the show about New Philadelphia, Illinois, which was 171 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: touted as the first town designed and plotted out by 172 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: a black man, and that did not happen until the 173 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: eighteen thirties. But unlike New Philadelphia, Seneca Village's establishment as 174 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: a community was a little bit more organic. Even though 175 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 1: those plots were like separate, eat it out and made 176 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:04,959 Speaker 1: as as parcels of lands that were sold, it wasn't 177 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: planned as a community. It was just broken into those lots. 178 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: And we know that by eighteen twenty nine there were 179 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,839 Speaker 1: nine families in Seneca Village for certain, and that's based 180 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: on records as well as archaeological evidence. There may have 181 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 1: actually been more. We should mention as well that there 182 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: was another area of Manhattan that had a similar black 183 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: community which predated Seneca Village. It was on a thirty 184 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: acre piece of land known as York Hill because of 185 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: its elevation. This community's origin on the timeline is a 186 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: little bit unclear, but there do appear to be mentions 187 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: of it in the eighteen teens. Some of this area 188 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 1: was city property, but some of it was also privately owned. Ultimately, 189 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,239 Speaker 1: York Hill's downfall was the creation of the Croton Reservoir. 190 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: This water system, which was developed in the late eighteen 191 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: thirties and early eighteen forties, had been preceded by the 192 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: city acquiring all of the property in York Hill and 193 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: displacing that community. Many of them had moved to Seneca Village. 194 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,320 Speaker 1: That uncertainty that we mentioned just a moment ago about 195 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: how many people were living in Seneca Village early on 196 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: is actually a problem that persisted for much of its history. 197 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: We know that in the time immediately following the Croton 198 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: Reservoir displacement of York Hill, Seneca Village had grown to 199 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: a population of more than one hundred residents, and we 200 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: also know that Irish immigrants started moving into the village 201 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: starting in the eighteen forties, including the mother of future 202 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: Tammany Hall boss George Washington Plunkett. George and his twin 203 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: brother were actually born in Seneca Village, and by that 204 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: time the African Union Church had also bought land from 205 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,839 Speaker 1: the white Heads and moved in. It's significant that the 206 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: white Heads were willing to sell their land to black buyers, 207 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: as that offered an affordable entry into holding property that 208 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: was unavailable in most of Manhattan. The residents of the 209 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: village were more likely than New Yorkers of any color 210 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: anywhere in the city to own the land where they lived. 211 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: In order to vote in New York, free black men 212 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: had to have lived in the state for three years 213 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: and had to own land valued at two hundred fifty 214 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: dollars or more. So, the Seneca Village land opened up 215 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: an avenue for black residents in the city to meet 216 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: that property requirement. In the eighteen fifties, ten of Seneca 217 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: Villages black residents were voters, and while that is a 218 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: tiny number, it was by percentage far higher than in 219 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: other communities within the city. In eighteen forty five, for example, 220 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: there were thirteen thousand black New Yorkers and only ninety 221 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: one of them had voting rights. In eighteen fifty five, 222 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: the black population of Manhattan was recorded at twelve thousand, 223 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: there were still fewer than one hundred who had secured 224 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: voting rights, and that meant that at the time, with 225 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: only about a hundred and fifty black residents, Seneca Village 226 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: was home to more than ten percent of the city's 227 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: black voters. There were also people who were not residents 228 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: of Seneca Village but owned land there in order to 229 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: attain voting rights. So if you look at black voting 230 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: landholders in Seneca Village instead of the population of the village, 231 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: that concentration is even higher. Yeah, there were definitely people 232 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: that chose to stay downtown as where they lived, but 233 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: they wanted to own this property and that once again 234 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: opened up voting opportunities for them. In eighteen fifty five, 235 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 1: a census was taken, so the information about the village 236 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: during that time becomes much more robust. There were two 237 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: d thirty people living in Seneca Village then in the 238 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: village's fifty two homes, so a lot of these were families. 239 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: Roughly two thirds of the residents were Black, roughly one 240 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: third was Irish, and there were a few German residents 241 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:35,959 Speaker 1: as well making their homes there. There were also three 242 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: churches in the village by that point, African Methodist Episcopal 243 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: Zion Church which was the one that was there from 244 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: the beginning, African Union Church, and All Angels Church. Amy 245 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: Zion and African Union were all black churches. All Angels, however, 246 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: had a mixed congregation and was a mission project of St. 247 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: Michael's which was at Broadway in ninety nine, and that 248 00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: also had a Sunday school as part of it. The 249 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: Semate terry associated with All Angels was also integrated, and 250 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: there was also a school in the village known as 251 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: Colored School Number three that had been founded in the 252 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: eighteen forties. So now we're gonna start getting to how 253 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 1: this was turned into a park. Starting in the eighteen forties, 254 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: there was growing interest and ensuring that the rapidly growing 255 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: city retained some kind of green space for Manhattan's residence. 256 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: This was a valid concern because the natural land on 257 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: the island was being sold off and built up at 258 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: a really quick rate. In the space of just a 259 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: decade from eighteen eighteen fifty five, the population of New 260 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 1: York City doubled. It was also driven in part by 261 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: a desire on the part of the wealthiest inhabitants of 262 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: the city to have a green space similar to something 263 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: that you might find in a European city. Yes, New 264 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: York was building up. They were like, we should have 265 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: fancy places like Paris or London, so that rich people 266 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: can take their carriages through them and we will feel 267 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: very worldly and fancy. There was a lot of debate 268 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: about exactly where a large park might fit into Manhattan's layout. 269 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: There was one fifty acre strip of land on the 270 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: East River that was considered, but that was met with 271 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 1: criticism because the size was deemed too small by a 272 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: lot of the people who really wanted this park. There 273 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: was also some concern that the park had been suggested 274 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: by the editor of the Evening Post, William Cullen Bryant, 275 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 1: because he and many of his Ideas supporters to put 276 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: it there happened to own property very near that site, 277 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: and they would have gotten a financial boost from a 278 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: park project that would have raised the value of their 279 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: own land. Incidentally, Bryant Park is named for him, so 280 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: he did get a park. That strip of land on 281 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: the East River was known as Jones Woods, and as 282 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: that lost favor as an option, the idea of a 283 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: park in the center of the island started to gain popularity. 284 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: There were a number of factors that made this location 285 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: more appealing than the previous one. For one thing, a 286 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: lot of the land there was already owned by the city, 287 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: whereas the Jones Wood strips had been privately owned and 288 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: would have required a pretty big investment on the city's part. 289 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: For another, that central strip of land had already been 290 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: deemed tricky to develop as a real estate because of 291 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: its terrain. This kind of cracks me up, because if 292 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: you look at cities or at maps rather from the 293 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: early eight hundreds of New York City, it all had 294 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: like terrain that would have been tricky. Somehow they managed 295 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: many cities do it, turns out right, they figure it out. 296 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: But as the plan for Central Park got underway, there 297 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: really was not much consideration for Seneca Village or any 298 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: of the people living in the proposed park space. The 299 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: initial plan for the park was seven hundred seventy nine acres. 300 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: It was later expanded to its current size of eight 301 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: hundred forty three acres, So that was a pretty significant 302 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: tract of land right in the middle of the city. 303 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: And even though Manhattan had less and less population density 304 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: the farther north you went on the island, the land 305 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: that had been identified as a potential green space for 306 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: this project was occupied, including Seneca Village, by an estimated 307 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: six hundred people. Despite that fact, and despite the fact 308 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,719 Speaker 1: that Seneca Village had grown into a community on lots 309 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: that had been purchased from the White Heads, the park 310 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: was generally described as an empty space with a handful 311 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,919 Speaker 1: of people living there illegally. This may have been a 312 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: case of supporters of the park plan, including journalists, either 313 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: willfully ignoring the residents of Seneca Village and other communities 314 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: in the area, or being truly unaware of how developed 315 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: these communities were. I would argue if they were journalists 316 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,959 Speaker 1: that was their job to figure out. Or they may 317 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: have just been devaluing and disregarding the people living there 318 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: because these communities were made up of black and immigrant inhabitants. 319 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: I will point out that journalism was a very different 320 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 1: thing at this point. Yeah, I know, but still yes. 321 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: And we don't know the motivation of every journalist who 322 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: wrote about the proposed land for Central Park as though 323 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: it were inhabited. But what we do know is that 324 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 1: downplaying any human habitation would have helped make the project 325 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: more appealing for anyone in the city, particularly any stakeholders 326 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: who might have questioned its expense and its purpose. And 327 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: there was of course racism in the mix as well. 328 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: People who did acknowledge Seneca Village referred to it using 329 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: a racist slur for years, as we mentioned a little 330 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: while ago. Uh. It's interesting because when you look at 331 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: some of the records online, depending on where you see them, 332 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: some places that show these newspapers, like the image of 333 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: the actual newspaper, have chosen to black bar the name 334 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: because it is gross. Um. There was also this general 335 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,159 Speaker 1: suspicion about any of the white immigrants who lived in 336 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: the village, and they were characterized as being very shifty 337 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:50,400 Speaker 1: and untrustworthy, and there were all these rumors of misagenation 338 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,199 Speaker 1: and a lot of racist language about the mixing of 339 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:57,200 Speaker 1: these races. Uh the rhetoric of the park being occupied 340 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,119 Speaker 1: only by indigent drifters be ga in the erasure of 341 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,719 Speaker 1: a stable community, both literally in terms of its existence 342 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: and in the historical record, and we really want to 343 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: stress the stability of this village. In the book The 344 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 1: Park and the People, authors Roy Rosenswig and Elizabeth Blackmar 345 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: note that if you compare Seneca Villages tax records from 346 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 1: eighteen forty to the records from eighteen fifty five, three 347 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: quarters of the families from eighteen forty we're still living there. 348 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 1: If you compare eighteen fifty to eighteen fifty five, all 349 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: of the black residents in the community were still in 350 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: Seneca Village. So it's definitely not a case of drifters 351 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,400 Speaker 1: or squatters. These are people who owned the land, paid taxes, 352 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,400 Speaker 1: and had that information captured in the city records. Seneca 353 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,160 Speaker 1: Village was more stable than really most city communities during 354 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: the mid eighteen hundreds. They make a point in that 355 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: book that if you compare Seneca Village to like I 356 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: think they mentioned a neighborhood in Boston. At the same time, 357 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: they're like, this is constant movement, This is almost no 358 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: movement like it's way more stable, uh, and in many 359 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:09,320 Speaker 1: cases to these families were staying through multiple generations with 360 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,159 Speaker 1: marriages and children and adding to the village's population and 361 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,400 Speaker 1: reinforcing the community ties within it. So it was the 362 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: exact opposite of Itinerant descriptions of the homes in the 363 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 1: village during the time when the city was considering where 364 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: to build a park also characterized them as though they 365 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: were barely standing. The words shock and shanty were very 366 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: commonly used. These were definitely not fancy houses. They were 367 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: generally built by the residents themselves. They tended to be 368 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: on a smaller side, mostly one story, and there was 369 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: a wide range of quality from one house to another. 370 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: But they were there through all those years of records 371 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: that we mentioned, so they definitely weren't temporary structures on 372 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: the verge of collapse. In terms of quality of life, 373 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,160 Speaker 1: if compared to the black population living downtown, the residents 374 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: of Seneca Village had significantly more space as well as 375 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: outdoor areas for recreation, and they weren't subjected to the 376 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: cramped and poorly maintained rooms that would have been available 377 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: in the Five Points neighborhood, where a large portion of 378 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: the city's black population lived. When you consider that most 379 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: of the people of color and immigrants living downtown were 380 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: in tenements that were really poorly managed, this was a 381 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: way better set up and again way more stable, but 382 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: completely devalued. Uh. Most of Seneca Villages male residents worked 383 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: in service or labor jobs, and the women of the 384 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,479 Speaker 1: village also worked. They took in laundry. Some of them 385 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: worked as domestic servants. There were also gardens and livestock 386 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: was kept on the Seneca Village acreage that supplemented the 387 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: diets of the residents. The most well off among the 388 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: people who lived there were two grocers and an innkeeper, 389 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: So it wasn't a wealthy demographic, but it was the 390 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,440 Speaker 1: highest concentration in the city of an area where black 391 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: people owned property. The people debating the future location of 392 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,199 Speaker 1: the park idea were generally wealthy. As the city had 393 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: expanded nor to take up more and more of the island. 394 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: It wasn't only William Cullen Bryant who had thoughts of 395 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: how a park would drive up adjacent property values. There 396 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: was definitely a recognition that the development of what was 397 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: being called at the time the Central Park was going 398 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: to create value in the land of the northern half 399 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: of the island. Back when Jones would or Jones Woods, 400 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 1: You'll see it written both ways was still being considered 401 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,879 Speaker 1: as a possible park location. Social reformer how Guernsey had 402 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: written a letter to the Tribune in which he said, 403 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: quote will anyone pretend the park is not a scheme 404 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: to enhance the value of uptown land and create a 405 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: splendid center for fashionable life without regard to and even 406 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: in dereliction of the happiness of the multitude upon whose 407 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: hearts and hands the expenses will fall. Even after that 408 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: other strip of land was eventually dismissed because it would 409 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: benefit existing landowners, At this point, it was inescapably obvious 410 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: that any location was going to create a potential new 411 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: area for affluent buyers to flock to. On July fifty three, 412 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 1: the city filed the legal action that would be the 413 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: demise of Seneca Village. That was when the city claimed 414 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 1: eminent domain over the portions of the island from fifty 415 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 1: nine to a hundred and sixth streets designated for the park. 416 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: For the property that the city did not already own, 417 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: the city allocated five million dollars for the purchase of 418 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: the properties in that tract that were privately held. But 419 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: naturally a lot of those people did not want to 420 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 1: give up their homes, and this is not a case 421 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: where they just went along with it. Many of them 422 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: fought it for through legal channels. Over the next two years, 423 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: there were ongoing court cases and appeal after appeal as 424 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: the residents of what would become Central Park, and specifically 425 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: the residents of Seneca Village, tried to hang onto the 426 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: community they had built. In some instances, those battles were 427 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 1: over the amounts of money that the city had allocated 428 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,199 Speaker 1: for specific properties as their like purchase agreement, because the 429 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: owners really felt that they were being undervalued. As the 430 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: legal issues churned, the city made a map in eighteen 431 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 1: fifty five that was an account of all the separate 432 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: properties and their owners, as well as notes on what 433 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: dwellings and outbuildings existed on each parcel. This came to 434 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: be known as the Central Park Condemnation Map. But eventually 435 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: all of the legal avenues for the residents were exhausted 436 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: and the city was eager to get on with its 437 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: park project. In the summer of eighteen fifty six, Mayor 438 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: Fernando Wood issued an eviction notice for Seneca Village. Still 439 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:37,119 Speaker 1: a lot of the residents resisted. News writers penned incendiary 440 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 1: articles indicating that the land should be cleared by any 441 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 1: means necessary to make way for the park that included violence. 442 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,399 Speaker 1: How things actually played out is a little unclear, though 443 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: some modern versions of this story suggests that police were 444 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: called in and a violent series of actions resulted, often 445 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 1: in community members being beaten and dragged from their homes. 446 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: But there actually aren't any firsthand at counts of how 447 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: and when the holdout residents finally left or were removed. 448 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: But by October one, eighteen fifty seven, the land set 449 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: aside for Central Park had no human inhabitants anymore. Demolition 450 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: of existing structures followed soon after that. By the time 451 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: Seneca Village was destroyed, five eighty nine people had lived 452 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: there in its three decade existence. And we're gonna pause 453 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: here for a sponsor break, and then we'll come back 454 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: and talk about trying to trace some of Seneca Villages 455 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: lost history. Construction on Central Park began in eighteen fifty eight, 456 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: and the lake of the park opened that same year, 457 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: Although construction continued throughout the rest of the park for 458 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: the next fifteen years. Almost as soon as it had 459 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 1: been raised, it was as though Seneca Village had never existed, 460 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 1: at least in the minds of the people who were 461 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: enjoying their new park. One of the big historical tragedy 462 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: these is that we don't really know where the residents 463 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: of Seneca Village went after they were evicted. All Angels 464 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: Church actually moved their building to a new location on 465 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: the upper west side the church. Sexton William Wilson moved 466 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: near the new church location. It's also known that resident 467 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: Andrew Williams moved with his family to Queens, but beyond 468 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,160 Speaker 1: that information is thin to non existent, and there are 469 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: still efforts to try to locate information about any of 470 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: these community members or their descendants. In August eighteen seventy one, 471 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:35,159 Speaker 1: two coffins were accidentally unearthed when landscapers were working in 472 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: the area of the park where Seneca Village had been. 473 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: One of those coffins was really, really nice and had 474 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: an engraved plate on it with the name Margaret McGuinty, 475 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: while the other was a simpler style with no identify errs. 476 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,400 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that Seneca Village had been an active 477 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,360 Speaker 1: community there just fifteen years prior to this discovery. It 478 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: was reported as though these coffins were just a complete mystery. 479 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: There is no in The cemeteries of Seneca Village attached 480 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,160 Speaker 1: to All Angels Church and the amy Zion Church were 481 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: relocated after the inhabitants of the village were evicted. The 482 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,440 Speaker 1: burial records from amy Zion burned in eighteen thirty nine, 483 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: so the earliest records of burials were lost even before that. YEA. 484 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 1: So it's very very possible that since they basically were 485 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:26,119 Speaker 1: knocking down buildings and then covering them with dirt. Uh, 486 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: it's very possible that they basically just filled in over 487 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: the cemeteries. It is difficult for historians to research and 488 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: contextualize the inhabitants of Seneca Village because there aren't, as 489 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: we've been saying, a lot of records, and many of 490 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,199 Speaker 1: the records that do exist were created because there was 491 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: a desire to move those people off of their land. Additionally, 492 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: as we have talked about on the show before, it 493 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: was the second half of the eighteen twenties when Nissa 494 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: Fournie started experimenting with photography in France. So there are 495 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: really no photographs of Seneca Village. There are a few 496 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: photos that were taken of the landscape as prep was 497 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: underway to turn it into a park, and some buildings 498 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 1: appear in those photos that may have been part of this, 499 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 1: but they aren't the focus. They're sort of often the 500 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,959 Speaker 1: distance in the background, and it is not a comprehensive 501 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: view of the entire community area. There is one family 502 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: associated with Seneca Village that there are surviving photos of, 503 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: but they were not residents. Albro and Mary Joseph Lyons 504 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,680 Speaker 1: had their portraits made as well as their children's portraits 505 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: in the eighteen sixties, so while these are important historical items, 506 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: they are a degree of remove from actual life in 507 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: the village. Will be coming back to them at a 508 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: moment though. In the New York Historical Society mounted an 509 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: exhibition titled Before Central Park, The Life and Death of 510 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: Seneca Village, which challenged the long established story that the 511 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: area that became Central Park had been essentially a waste 512 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: land before Olmstead and Vox work their landscaping magic. This 513 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: exhibit also stoked interest in this subject, helping to bolster 514 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: a bigger exploration of the history of the Park's land 515 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: before it became Central Park. The Seneca Village Project began 516 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: building on work done through the nineteen nineties. That project 517 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: was headed by Diana Wall, an anthropology professor at the 518 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: City College of New York, Nan Rothschild of the Bernard 519 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 1: Anthropology Department, and Cynthia Copeland of the New York Historical Society. 520 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: Wall started research into Seneca Village in the nineteen nineties, 521 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: building up a case for the project to gain funding. Initially, 522 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: the work that was being done was largely collecting as 523 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: much documentation as they could related to Seneca Village, and 524 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: then after soil studies and careful initial probing of the area, 525 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,840 Speaker 1: it expanded over time into an archaeological dig. And this 526 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: project was funded through a number of sources. It received 527 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: a Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant from the National Science Foundation, 528 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: as well as getting funding from National Geographic the Durst Foundation, 529 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: the Guilder Foundation, and Friends of Cornell Edwards. And it 530 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: required a lot of careful and savvy negotiations to get 531 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: permissions to actually have access to the park for field work. 532 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: This is something I have summed up here in just 533 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: a few sentences, but please know that this work was 534 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: done in very carefully planned stages over the course of years. 535 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: It was really really uh an instance of a great 536 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: deal of dedication on the part of these people who 537 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: initiated it. In twenty eleven, the first excavation project was 538 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: conducted at the Seneca Village site that had a combination 539 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: of classroom prep work, eight weeks of field work and 540 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 1: four weeks of lab work for the undergrad students who participated. 541 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: Field work started on June seven of that year, and 542 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: the excavation located, among other things, the foundation wall and 543 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: interior of the home of William Godfrey Wilson and Charlotte 544 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: Moore Wilson. Also, they found a number of artifacts that 545 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: had been part of daily life in the village, including ceramics, 546 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: a pipe, a child's shoe, a teapot, things like that. Yeah, 547 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: it's interesting. One of the things that comes up lot 548 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: when you're looking at this is that people want to 549 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: discuss how this was a very poor community. But there's 550 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: a really lovely video I came across where some of 551 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: the people who worked on this project you're talking about like, no, 552 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,719 Speaker 1: this china is as nice as like the middle class 553 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: would have owned. Um, you know, there are enough things 554 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: that they found that kind of bolster the idea of 555 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: like it. It further enhances this picture of it as 556 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 1: a very stable, settled community of people that were not 557 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: just like scratching by. They had a sense of of 558 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 1: place and belonging and stability there uh In, new archaeological 559 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: work began on the site of Seneca Village as the 560 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: playgrounds that have been on the plot of land where 561 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: the village once existed were set to undergo renovation. The 562 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: Central Park Conservancy also initiated an effort of archabole research 563 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: alongside the archaeological work during this construction project, in an 564 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: effort to create a more thorough record of the land's history. 565 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: The result of this project in recent years has been 566 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: the installation of a number of signs in the park 567 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,720 Speaker 1: that note the locations of various village buildings and the 568 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: village's residents. In the fall of New York Mayor Billed 569 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,080 Speaker 1: Blasio announced that Central Park would get a historical monument 570 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: about Seneca Village, focusing specifically on the Lyons family, who 571 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier. While they did not live in Seneca Village, 572 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: they were prominent members of Manhattan's nineteenth century black community 573 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: and they ran a stop on the underground railroad in 574 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: the city. Submissions for the design of that monument were 575 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: supposed to be open until April of this year, but 576 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: the pandemic has probably put the brakes on that plan. Yeah, 577 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: hard to dig up information and once everything went left. UM, 578 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 1: it's cool to me that this has gotten a lot 579 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: more attention in recent years. And I like that. I mean, 580 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: those people that we mentioned on the Seneca Village project, 581 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: they are still working on this and there's still you know, 582 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: archable analysis that goes on and and I don't know 583 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: if there are plans for additional digs, but it's one 584 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,239 Speaker 1: of those things that UH has kind of cropped up 585 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: in the news in recent years. But I thought it 586 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: might be nice to really talk about just how complete 587 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: this community was, because it's not often talked about in 588 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 1: that way. UM, it's a um in that way a 589 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 1: cool thing, and I don't I'm really really glad that 590 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: they're making efforts to document prepark history of that area. UM. 591 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: I love Central Park, but also am not ignorant to 592 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: the fact that it did not just sprout out of 593 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: nowhere with land that no one ever had. So I 594 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,440 Speaker 1: hope that we'll get more. I hope more and more 595 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: stuff comes to light about Seneca Village and the people 596 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: that live there. UM. I love it. Anyway, that's what's up. 597 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: You want some listener mail, I sure do this listener 598 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: mails about Bonds. I. UM, this is from our listener, Keith, 599 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,920 Speaker 1: who writes, Hey, Holly and Tracy, I've been listening for 600 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: a long time. I just heard your podcast on Bonds. 601 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: I I'm a little behind. I think that sounds behind. 602 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: That sounds pretty contemporary. Uh. He says that I'm so 603 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: excited to actually have a reason to contact you both. 604 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: I work at a museum in Colorado, and while this 605 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: isn't my specialty, I did really want to mention Colorado's 606 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,880 Speaker 1: role in modern bonsai in the US and around the world. 607 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: You spoke of the role of Japanese interment camps in bonsai. 608 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: To my understanding, the interment camp in Colorado, known as 609 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,920 Speaker 1: Amachi or Granada, was instrumental in the resurgence of bonzai 610 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: in both the US and Japan after the war. Amasia 611 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:29,359 Speaker 1: was the smallest of the camps, but it held four 612 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: expert Bonsaie artists, so the art was common there. Classes developed, 613 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:35,960 Speaker 1: and it was picked up by many of the other prisoners. 614 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: Because the plants near the camp weren't traditional Bonsai trees, 615 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: the camp prisoners used non traditional local trees such as junipers. 616 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: This was the beginning of a new style of bonzai, 617 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: which focused on the plants of the area that you're 618 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: in instead of limiting the craft to traditional Bonsai trees. 619 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: That idea was transported back to Los Angeles after the war, 620 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 1: and eventually back to Japan. After the camp was disbanded, 621 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:03,279 Speaker 1: many of the internees from Mtchi remained in Colorado. Colorado's governor, 622 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: Ralph Carr, was the only governor who welcomed the inturnees 623 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: to remain as part of their state. Denver actually had 624 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: two Bondsai clubs for years, one that spoke English and 625 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: one that was dominated by former internees and spoke exclusively 626 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: in Japanese. The Denver Botanic Garden still has a wonderful 627 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,240 Speaker 1: Japanese garden and a thriving Bondsai club that we wouldn't 628 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,360 Speaker 1: have without this history, all of which leads me to 629 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: a podcast suggestion, and he mentions Ralph Carr. Uh. He says, anyway, 630 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: I hope that's interesting to you and not just a 631 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: waste of your time. Thanks for all the history of 632 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,400 Speaker 1: the year. Stay safe and healthy. That's super interesting to me. 633 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,040 Speaker 1: Um And now I have a place on my list 634 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 1: of things to do next time I am in Denver 635 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 1: because I absolutely want to go see the Botanic Garden. 636 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: Uh it's We've had a few people write to us 637 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,320 Speaker 1: about Bondsai, which I love, including um our listener Maggie, 638 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: who shared a picture of one of hers that uh 639 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: no longer survives but was very very pretty. Uh I 640 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: love it. I like hearing about people's interest in in 641 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 1: Bonzai and trees in general. It's great, so please keep 642 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 1: sharing those. They're all interesting to me. If you would 643 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 1: like to ideas, you can do so at History Podcast 644 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,080 Speaker 1: at i heeart radio dot com. You can find us 645 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: on social media as Missed in History, and if you 646 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: would like to subscribe to the podcast, we hope that 647 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:17,319 Speaker 1: you do, you can do that on the I heart 648 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,280 Speaker 1: Radio app, at Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen. 649 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,799 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 650 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 651 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,240 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 652 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:35,840 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.