Seneca Village was destroyed to construct Central Park. City officials saw the neighborhood as nothing but prime real estate. Its destruction wiped out an irreplaceable piece of Black history, not to mention the homes and livelihoods of an estimated 1600 residents.
Lincoln Center is a New York landmark. In the 1950s, the community of San Juan Hill was razed to construct it. Most of the 7,000 residents of this neighborhood were Black and Puerto Rican.
Brooklyn’s historic Weeksville neighborhood was founded in the 1840s by Black businessmen. It was even a stop on the Underground Railroad. As the founders began to age, the community was targeted for annihilation. By the time the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, Weeksville was gone.
Little Africa, now Greenwich Village, had a rich history dating back to the early 1800s. The tight-knit neighborhood was populated by free Black people and those who had escaped enslavement. Urban development in the mid-20th century destroyed it.
New York City’s neighborhoods have deep roots in Black history. Even when we don’t see them, just know that the remnants of Blackness made it possible for those places to thrive.