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 .
The Seneca Village community started small but grew when it combined with York Hill, a neighboring African-American settlement. The population increased from 100 people in the late 1830’s to 264 residents in 1864. The village became popular due to its affordability compared to downtown Manhattan. Seneca was more affordable than lower Manhattan in which it was nearly impossible to own property due to laws and the unwillingness to sell to African Americans. Working class African Americans populated Seneca as an escape from the poor housing that plagued lower Manhattan. The chance of being a part of an indigenous community appealed to most downtown African Americans.
The right to vote was important to the people in Seneca Village. Due to the requirements of land ownership, most African Americans were excluded from suffrage. Ten percent of all eligible African American voters came from Seneca.
African Americans were not the only residents of Seneca Village. European immigrants began to enter the neighborhood in the 1840’s. The potato famine in Ireland sent many Irish immigrants to New York. Thirty percent of the population of Seneca Village was mostly Irish and German. Records show that Europeans and African-Americans in the Village lived in harmony and attended church together and buried their dead in the same cemetery.
Spirituality was very important to the residents of Seneca Village. Three churches were built in the Village along with three cemeteries. Not much is known about the first church, the African Union Methodist Church, which is believed to be founded in 1837. It contained a school in its ba...
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...urbed and deem this area a historical site.
By the time of its destruction, Seneca was a thriving village of working class minorities living in harmony. The property value was nearly quadrupled, showing the progress made by the Seneca community. This progress was stopped in an attempt to capitalize on property owned by New York City elites. For example, the mayor’s property value skyrocketed 50 times higher than its original cost.
The significance of Seneca Village is not only that is was the first property owned by an African American community in New York City; it is also the predecessor of Harlem.
In addition, Seneca Village demonstrated the progress made by African Americans in overcoming the obstacles that were presented to them by racist America. New York City’s government should remember the Village it destroyed not only as a historic landmark, but for something it still has yet to achieve--a society in which all members lived in harmony. The next time you walk through Central Park, imagine a diverse community of people coexisting in harmony. Knowing the accurate history of Central Park, we should continue to pay tribute to the lost community--Seneca Village.
One reason is that there was an increase population of the newcomers was simply because of their sturdiness and pride. People, not matter what religion, gender, age, or cultural and ethnical backgrounds, have a piece of themselves with others. In other words, the newcomers had hubris just like old Canarsie residents. Continuing on DeSena and Shortwell book, the book depicts that “how West Indian and their children frame race can shift as the time they spend in the [Canarsie] grows…the more their understanding of racism comports with that of other African Americans” (DeSena and Shortwell 384). To take account of the time period, racial superiority oppressed the inferior race of pain and suffering. The more one takes in pain and suffering, the less extreme of the numbness that one would feel and one would take precautions to stand. With the threats and violent outbursts, the population of the newcomers increased because they understood that they needed to remain strong as a whole. Having pride and representing cultures kept pilling these newcomers in the land of
In just a few paragraphs Mattson provides concrete evidence for his overall argument by creating more specific arguments and by using evidence from sources from the 1920s. In the three short paragraphs found on pages 312 to 314 he proves that before consumerism took over, Harlem was a place of strong democratic debate by citizens. He illustrates how passionately people gathered to educate themselves on issues that would affect them. His readers realize that without this communication public space is just a place where strangers pass each other by. The democratic interactions created much needed unity among neighbors, but the story of Harlem presented in this text shows how consumer culture and corporate power eventually takes over making Harlem a “playground for a new urban consumer ethic” (292).
Before African Americans moved to this area, Harlem was “designed specifically for white workers who wanted to commute into the city” (BIO Classroom). Due to the rapid growth of white people moving there and the developers not having enough transportation to support those people to go back and forth between downtown to work and home most of the residents left. Th...
Historically, Chicago has been and always will be a city of change both industrially and agriculturally to the metropolis we know and revere today with skyscrapers and culture abound. In order for the city to become the industrial hub, changes were made to the natural landscapes to accommodate business and residency. Steel became the staple good, and green spaces were demolished during the expansion of industry in the Calumet region by the masses in the creation of steel for railroad tracks and structural steel for commercial buildings. For geographical ambiance, The Calumet region of Chicago is consisted of the following neighborhoods: Burnside, Calumet Heights, East Side, Hegewisch, and Pullman, South Chicago, and South Deering. In this essay, I focus primarily on Pullman. It was unknown, or unsought of rather, how these implications would lead to issues of both economic and environmental injustice.
The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different Dracula was. As the story unfolded, Jonathan realized he is not just a guest, but a prisoner as well. The horror in the novel not only focuses on the “vampiric nature” (Soyokaze), but also on the fear and threat of female sexual expression and aggression in such a conservative Victorian society.
In Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Dracula is portrayed as a monster made evident by his gruesome actions. An analysis of Dracula shows that: shows his evil nature in his planning, brutally killing Lucy Westrenstra causing a violent response from Dr. Seward and others, and how his evil ways lead to his downfall. To characterize Dracula in one way, he is a ruthless, cunning monster who uses tricks, torture, and wits to manipulate people to his will. However when he trifled with some courageous people, he had no knowledge that it would be his undoing.
Dumenil, Lynn, ed. "New York City." The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2012. Oxford Reference. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.
“It was if there was a social moat that divided these two New Yorks.” This quote from the movie The Central Park Five, explains the divide between the poor part of New York, such as Harlem, and the upper class areas. This divide was caused by an economic crisis that changed the social dynamics of the city. This change allowed for consequences such as the injustice of the Central Park Five and the causes of this injustice can be explained by three different theoretical perspectives: the Structural Functionalist Perspective, the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective, and the Conflict Perspective.
In Dracula, Bram Stoker portrays a clear battle between the “traditional woman” of the time and the “new woman.”. Stoker uses the contrasting characters of Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray to depict this evolution in women and, also, to paint an image of the reaction to this advance, expressed by both men and women.
... Dracula were used to show that Mina and Dracula are aware of each other’s presence. In the scene, Lucy, who is a pure and virtuous woman, is willingly having sex with a werewolf and enjoying it. A taboo of bestiality is openly and provocatively shown here. Lucy having sex outside of marriage is a transcension of the social norms of 1897, when Bram Stoker’s Dracula was written. Lucy’s destruction in Bram Stoker’s novel and any Dracula movie shows a “deliberate attempt […] made to make sexuality seem unthinkable in ‘normal relations’ between the sexes” (Senf, 39). During and after Lucy’s transformation, she becomes very sexual and makes several sexual advances. By killing Lucy in the novel, Stoker shows society’s fear of female sexual assertiveness and the belief that sexually assertive women are evil and un-Christian and unable to be in a ‘normal’ relationship.
In sub-Saharan Africa, thousands of languages, cultures, and geographical regions helped influence our African society. The ways in which we produce our artwork, spiritual ideals, and ritual performances are organic and raw. From the tropical regions of Congo and Ghana, to the arid regions of Mali; I pass through the global gateway into a domain where the Western world lost its roots and artistic imagination and grandeur. Africa appeals most to me for its ability to create a realm where the living, dead, and artistic ideals come into a single unit of tranquil philosophy.
Recidivism is a major problem in the United States, as nearly two-thirds of those released from prison, reoffend. In fact, in many cases those who were initially incarcerated for non-violent crimes, often escalate to violence, after release from prison. A U.S. Department of Justice special report released in 2014, entitled: Recidivism of
Stoker has rendered the reader to see the Count as physically strong and powerful, through Jonathan Harker and his confinement and Lucy Westenra and her failing health. Although the reader does not understand all the omniscient powers and control that Count Dracula possesses over people, they are brought to light through Dr Steward’s accounts of his patient R.M. Renfield. The ‘strange and sudden change’ (Stoker, 86), that has happened in Renfield evokes the reader to contemplate the Count’s influence over people. Dr Steward suggests it is as though a ‘religious mania has seized’ Renfield (Stoker, 87), and is controlling him. The reader is aware that Renfield can feel the Counts presence and that there is a connection between them. This eventually leads Van Helsing to recognize the bond between Mina Harker and the Count, which helps them to find Dracula and finally kill him. Dracula’s invasion over Renfield also reveals a weakness in the Counts power. Renfield, an obedient servant of Dracula, claims he is ‘here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave’ (Stoker, 88). Renfield’s devotion is quickly reversed when he sees that the Count is taking life from Mina. It is his care for her that causes him to turn against Dracula and try to fight for her. Again Renfield’s actions mimic that of the other men as it becomes their goal to save Mina from the invasion running through her body. The key to this invasion is the blood.
This research study will address the on-going issues of reducing recidivism, and the need to help ex-offenders succeed in society post incarceration. While literature pertaining to this topic of reducing recidivism is available, such literature tends to be written by elites and/or individuals who have never been incarcerated. Our study will provide first hand authentic answers regarding how to reduce recidivism.
Indirectly, there are clear connections to the closing of South Central’s Farm and environmental racism present in the city of Los Angeles. However, no matter how much influence environmental racism and white privilege had on the founding and current layout of the city of Los Angeles, environmental racism was not the cause for the dissolution of the South Central Farm. By examining the past of Los Angeles itself, and through the use of Laura Pulido’s explanation of environmental racism it is made clear that environmental racism is not the root of South Central Farm’s eventual closing.