Seneca Village

Behind the Scenes Minis: Criminals and the Maco Light

Seneca Village was a predominantly black community that built itself from the ground up. But its story is fragmented. Even though it existed at a time when it could have been fairly well-documented, there was a vested interest in erasing it.

Holly’s Research:

“Seneca Village, New York City.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/seneca-village-new-york-city.htm
Alexander, Leslie M. “African or American?” University of Illinois Press. 2008.
Wall, Diana diZerega, et al. “Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City.” Historical Archaeology, vol. 42, no. 1, 2008, pp. 97–107. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25617485.
“Discover Seneca Village: Selected Research Topics and Resources.” Central Park Conservancy. October 2019. https://d17wymyl890hh0.cloudfront.net/new_images/feature_facilities/SenecaVillage_SelectedResearchTopicsandResources_2020_v4.pdf?mtime=20200219091534
Capron, Maddie and Christina Zdanowicz. “A black community was displaced to build Central Park. Now a monument will honor them.” CNN Oct. 22, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/seneca-village-central-park-monument-trnd/index.html
“The Sale of Manhattan.” The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands. Library of Congress and the National Library of the Netherlands. http://frontiers.loc.gov/intldl/awkbhtml/kb-1/kb-1-2-1.html
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Manhattan.” Encyclopædia Britannica. November 23, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/place/Manhattan-New-York-City
Connoly, Colleen. “The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland.” Smithsonian. Oct. 5, 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-native-new-yorkers-can-never-truly-reclaim-their-homeland-180970472/
Cleland, Charles and Bruce R. Greene. “Faith in Paper.” University of Michigan Press. 2011.
Rosenzweig, Roy and Elizabeth Blackmar. “The Park and the People: A History of Central Park.” Cornell University Press. 1992.
Blakinger, Keri. “A look at Seneca Village, the black town razed for Central Park.” New York Daily News. May 17, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160518101320/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/seneca-village-black-town-razed-central-park-article-1.2639611
Martin, Douglas. “A Village Dies, A Park Is Born.” New York Times. Jan. 31, 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/20160320031313/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/31/arts/a-village-dies-a-park-is-born.html?pagewanted=all
Arenson, Karen W. “A Technological Dig; Scientists Seek Signs of Central Park Past.” New York Times. July 27, 2000. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/27/nyregion/a-technological-dig-scientists-seek-signs-of-central-park-past.html
Staples, Brent. “The Death of Black Utopia.” New York Times. Nov. 28, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/opinion/seneca-central-park-nyc.html
Kang, Tricia. “160 Years of Central Park: A Brief History.” Central Park Conservancy. June 1, 2017. https://www.centralparknyc.org/blog/central-park-history
Wall, Diane diZerega and Nan A. Rothschild. “The Seneca Village Archaeological Excavations, Summer 2011.” The African Diaspora Archaeology Network. September 2011 Newsletter. http://www.diaspora.illinois.edu/news0911/news0911-4.pdf
Central Park Conservancy. “Discover Seneca Village: Selected Research Topics ad Resources.” October 2019. https://d17wymyl890hh0.cloudfront.net/new_images/feature_facilities/SenecaVillage_SelectedResearchTopicsandResources_2020_v4.pdf?mtime=20200219091534
Wall, Diane diZerega, et al. “SENECA VILLAGE, A FORGOTTEN COMMUNITY: REPORT ON THE 2011 EXCAVATIONS.” 2018. http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/1828.pdf
Seneca Village Project. http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/index.html