Self-Sufficiency in Seneca Village

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Archaeology of Marginalization and Resilience in the Northeast", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1825, two years before Emancipation in New York State and in a climate of intense anti-Black racism, two Black men purchased land north of the urban core of New York City. Over the next three decades, other Black men and women and European (mostly Irish) immigrants also purchased land there. Together they created a community that included three churches, a school, planted fields, and dozens of homes. In 1857, the City of New York used the right of eminent domain and an argument about the “greater good” to take their land, raze their village, and build Central Park. The village did not re-form elsewhere and was neglected in city histories. This paper focuses on what our historical archaeological investigations have revealed about this forgotten community, particularly how in their everyday interactions with one another and the local environment, Seneca Villagers cultivated a thriving and relatively self-sufficient and sheltered community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Archaeology of Marginalization and Resilience in the Northeast

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow