An usually unseen, however critically vital a part of New York historical past is being commemorated in remembrance of Black individuals who fashioned one of many first impartial communities within the metropolis.
The two hundredth anniversary of Seneca Village is being celebrated at an occasion hosted by the Central Park Conservancy on Sunday, Sept. 14, at Mom AME Zion Church in Harlem. It would characteristic a sermon, reside music, and a panel dialogue with historians in regards to the historical past of the Black group.
The occasion is a part of a collection of occasions from this system, Seneca Village: Towards a Everlasting Commemoration, and funded by the Mellon Basis. The Conservancy introduced the initiative in February as a part of its purpose to completely commemorate the Black group
“Seneca Village is an important a part of the historical past of New York Metropolis and Central Park, and that group’s reminiscence deserves to be honored inside Central Park’s panorama,” stated Betsy Smith, president & CEO, Central Park Conservancy in the course of the February announcement. “The Central Park Conservancy is thrilled to guide these conversations with the general public to deepen our collective understanding of its legacy.”
In recent times, the story of Seneca Village, a thriving group predominantly made up of free African People that was later demolished to create Central Park, has sparked a lot dialogue. It developed in 1825, after Andrew Williams, a 25-year-old African American shoeshiner and congregant of Mom AME Zion Church, bought three a number of land between 82nd and 89th for $125. By the 1850s, it comprised dozens of properties, church buildings, and a burial floor — turning into a haven for Black individuals, even inside the free state of New York.
Nevertheless, the land was seized by eminent area, forcing the 1,600 residents out and leaving them displaced by 1857. Extra of the historical past of the Village could be discovered on the Conservancy web site.
AME Zion Church, which had fashioned as New York’s first Black church in 1820, bought six a number of land after serving as a refuge for runaway slaves in the course of the Underground Railroad. It grew to become referred to as “Freedom Church,” and notable abolitionist leaders like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Fact, and Harriet Tubman had been all linked to the house.
The occasion runs from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. and begins with a church service, adopted by an open home of the historical past of the church, and might be adopted by a dialogue at 1:00 p.m.
