How Did Seneca Village Affect The Wellbeing Of The Black Community

Black people are at a huge disadvantage, and were in an even worse situation during the late and post-antebellum periods. Communities were run by white officials and many of them had no interest in helping the local black population and still had a strong hold on racist doctrines. Many black people believed that an important step towards helping their communities in a major and semi-permanent way was to gain access to the political scene in order to take control of their own communities. However, a portion of the black populace believed that politics were not the way to achieve their independence, and instead chose the route of activism. Even though there were and continue to be differing thoughts on how it should be secured, the general consensus

“Beginning in 1825, residents labored for over thirty years to construct homes, gardens, churches, schools, and cemeteries in an effort to create a future for their children and to honor their ancestors.” John Whitehead was the unwitting benefactor to the birth of Seneca Village. In 1825, he began cheaply selling parcels of the land he owned within New York City. Members of the black New York community jumped to take advantage of this opportunity, and made a collective effort to purchase the land together. Two charter members of the African Society, Andrew Williams and Epiphany Davis, were the first of three black New Yorkers to obtain the land from Whitehead (the third being AME Zion Church). The African Society had a history of interest in securing land for the betterment of the black New York community, and many of the original villagers were African Society members. What followed was an influx of black people rushing to purchase land, in the hope that this move would provide a better life for them and their families. Seneca Village quickly expanded in the 1850s. It grew to become a fully self-sustaining community, run by those that inhabited it. Community members “[cultivated] gardens to provide food for themselves and fellow community members.” There were also three prominent churches; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Branch Militant (which

Many villagers (mainly members of the African Society) including “Charles Ray, James McCune, John J. Zuille, Albro Lyons … were known conductors on the Underground railroad.” Yet assisting with abolitionist efforts was not Seneca Village’s dominant political priority. The Village played a considerable role in the fight for black suffrage. In 1821, the New York Constitution stated that “… no man of colour, unless he… shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars… and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of colour shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.” Men of color could not vote, and therefore could not increase their political power and affect the legislature, unless they owned at least $250 worth of property. Seneca Village was a boon in that it offered the black populace the ability to own property and to influence their political rights. Seneca Village is one of the earliest examples of black people successfully acquiring community control and using that control to gain political power, even if it was eventually stolen from