Tomorrow evening, Montclair State University will welcome Dr. Diana diZerega Wall, a professor of anthropology at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center, to speak on the history of Seneca Village, a 19th century immigrant community that was razed to build Central Park.
The former village, located between 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues was established in 1825. By the time the village was desroyed in 1857, it was not only the first significant settlement of landowning African-Americans, but also home to a multi-ethnic immigrant community of mainly Irish and Germans. A census from two years earlier had registered 264 residents. New York was a very different place at the time, with most newspapers cheering the removal of "the insects".
The presentation "Seneca Village: Unearthing a Forgotten African-American Community", wil be held Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 7:00pm, Cohen Lounge, Dickson Hall, Montclare State University.
Look here for more information on the presentation, or here to read an impotant New York Times article from 1997 on the history of the village and an exhibition that was put together by the New York Historical Society.