seneca village When people think of Central Park, the thought of African-Americans once owning the land is inconceivable. Yet, this was the case 150 years ago when there once thrived a place called Seneca Village.
The land known as Seneca Village was originally farmland owned by John and Elizabeth Whitehead. Andrew Williams, an African-American male, bought three lots of land from the Whiteheads in 1825. In addition, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church purchased six lots of land, which began the birth of the community. The Whiteheads eventually sold off their land between 82nd to 86th Streets. The majority of the buyers were African Americans. This became the first community for property-owning African Americans .
…show more content…
There were also plans to for a school in the basement.
The AME Zion Church had burial vaults in their churchyard located in lower Manhattan, but the City Council felt that the burial sites contributed to the rise in yellow fever. The Council granted temporary space in potter’s field but once it was filled to capacity, the church bought land in Seneca Village for burial use. The Church had at least two large burial sites located south of 86th Street. A new site in Brooklyn, the Cypress Hills Cemetery, was the new site for the church due to a new law that banned all burials below 86th Street.
The third church, the All Angels’ Church, was built on land donated by a couple of women. The membership of the church was approximately one-third European and the rest African-American. Records from the church indicate that many people died of a cholera epidemic that occurred between 1848 and 1850. Once the law that limited burials south of 86thStreet was enacted, the congregation moved their burials to St. Michael’s cemetery in Astoria, Queens.
Acquiring additional burial sites for their deceased in other areas of New York was a barometer of the remarkable increase in landowners, as well as residents, of Seneca Village. Racial tension appeared to be non-existent. The Village was a
Oakmont was incorporated on March 4, 1889, but the community began seventy-three years earlier when a farmer named Michael Bright moved onto a 234-acre tract with his family. This area formed a sizable part of Oakmont today Between that time and the creation of the borough, much happened that shaped the town. The town developed from farms owned by early settlers Michael Bright, Jonathan Hulton, David Grier, and Caleb Lee, into a thriving semi-residential, semi-industrial community. Even dating before this there may have been Indian settlements near the mouth of Plum Creek. Indians may not have lived in Oakmont at the time but they definitely hunted here for many flint arrowheads have been found around town mainly near the river and along the banks of Plum Creek. It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that white men settled in present day Oakmont. The land was offered for thirteen cents per acre and a buyer could establish a claim to a tract by having it surveyed. The purchase price did not have to be paid until a patent for the tract was obtained from Pennsylvania and patenting could be deferred which encouraged land speculation rather than settlement. From 1769 to 1787 George Croghan, John Baird, William Maris, David Mcfee, and John Woods established claims to tracts encompassing all of present day Oakmont. At this time Oakmont was part of Plum Township. Almost all of these men were land speculators who never obtained patents for their tracts but sold their rights to
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will
Central Pennsylvania was never known as to have been the permanent settlement for any large group of Native Americans. It was more of a stop for traveling tribes or a place of refuge. The Cherokees once passed through here in the early 17th century (Wallace, 1970). The Susquehannock Indians were an Iroquois Indian tribe that settled the Susquehanna watershed before they migrated to Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay (Cadzow, 1936). The tribe that stayed the longest and had the most influence on Central Pennsylvania was the Shawnee. The Shawnees were an Algonkian people whose original home was most likely the Cumberland River in Tennessee. This southern position gave them the name Shawnee, meaning "southerners" in the Algonkian language. The Shawnees split up often and moved around a lot, they are noted to have lived in parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Their first known appearance in Pennsylvania in great numbers was in 1697 (Harvey, 1855). The tribe had five main groups: Chillicothe, Kispokotha, Pique, Sawekela, and the Makostrake (Johnson, 1937). These became so intermixed that they are now indistinguishable. The reasons for these groups were mainly for political and ritual purposes and did not affect
“In the United States, a concerted effort is underway to reduce water pollution and thereby improve water quality.” (Keller) A case history of river pollution is the Cuyahoga River located in Northeastern Ohio. The river is 100 miles long flowing south to Cuyahoga Falls where it then turns north until it empties into Lake Erie. Cleveland and Akron are two major cities located along the river. The Cuyahoga is known as an infant glacial river, this is because it is one of the youngest river created from the melting of the glaciers. It is estimated that the river is about 13,000 year old. The story of the Cuyahoga is one with many lows and highs. The
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was the first spark to women's rights movements in Antebellum America. Without this meeting, life for women today could be entirely different. Rights that seem obligatory to women today, like being able to vote, and occupational diversity for women. Women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Coffin Mott helped to kickstart the innovative ideas produced before and through the convention.
In the early 1800's, many of the women in the United States were plain and simple getting fed up with their lack of writes. Men had dominated everything in the past and they were still continuing to do so. Women were finally ready to come forward and voice their opinions about how men and women are created equal. It was now time for women to go out and become what ever they want to be and not have to worry about the fact that they are females. The Seneca Falls Convention would soon be one of the biggest victories for women's rights.
Many of the people living in the village have come from a variety of lives before moving into the community. Some old, some new, and often have been alone most of their life.
Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee
Who really are the Cheyenne Indians? According to historians, they were Indian people who became nomadic and moved to the Great Plains in the 18th century (Berkin 366). Another tribe, the Souix, developed the name of "people of a different language" for the Cheyenne. Some people said that the Cheyenne did not exist until the mid-1600s or at least this is when the earliest known records were found. They are one of the most famous and prominent Plains tribes, too.
Nothing is more fundamental yet so important to the freedoms we enjoy as Americans as the United States Constitution, which guarantee our right to do and say as we please so long as it does no harm to anyone. The Iroquois Nation preamble is placed on perfect peace for the welfare of the people. Their focus was fighting for the liberty of the people. Among the Indian nations whose ancient seats were within the limits of our republic, the Iroquois have long continued to occupy the conspicuous position. Nations they now set forth upon the canvas of the Indian history prominent as for the wisdom of their civil institution of the federations. Only the Iroquois had a system that seemed to meet most of the demands espoused by the
We're going to tell you about a tribe of Indians known as the Sioux Indians. The Sioux Indians lived on the great plains. The Sioux's tribe is partially and fully located in 7 states. The states are known as Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Their natural resources include deer, beans, wild rice, and buffalo.
Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.
die. The Red Chief was also in charge of the lacrosse games which were called
From as early as the time of the early European settlers, Native Americans have suffered tremendously. Native Americans during the time of the early settlers where treated very badly. Europeans did what they wanted with the Native Americans, and when a group of Native Americans would stand up for themselves, the European would quickly put them down. The Native Americans bow and arrows where no match for the Europeans guns and cannon balls. When the Europeans guns didn’t work for the Europeans, the disease they bought killed the Native Americans even more effectively.
For many tribes of Plains Indians whose bison-hunting culture flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony . . . the rite celebrates renewal - the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living earth with all its components . . . The ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans. -Elizabeth Atwood LawrenceAs the most important ritual of the nomadic Plains Indians, the Sun Dance in itself presents many ideas, beliefs, and values of these cultures. Through its rich symbolism and complicated rituals we are able to catch a glimpse