Complementing The Right to Silence exhibition at Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery – John Jay College of Criminal Justice
“Invocations: Retracing Seneca” is a participatory walk paying homage to
Seneca Village
Join Kimiyo Bremer and Karen Finley as your guides on this participatory walk through selected landmarks and the environmental remains of Seneca Village (1825-1857). Seneca Village was a community made up of some 300 people. A majority of Seneca Village was composed of African American residents, many of which owned their own homes. Seneca was also populated by Irish and German immigrants who they lived together with as neighbors. The community was prosperous housing 3 churches, a school, a garden, many streets and a center. From 1853-1857, the city used eminent domain and police force to destroy and brutally demolish Seneca Village for the development of Central Park. The planned landscape of Central Park would create some of the most expensive real estate in the world, all of which we see today. The Seneca residents were forced to disperse with little archives maintained by the city to preserve this remarkable hamlet from the pre-civil war era. In our walk we will invoke ritual, retrace steps while offering recognition of these historic New Yorkers. We welcome you to conjure remembrance, sing spirit together, offer fellowship to proclaim and honor as our way of giving respect. Please book your participation at: https://www.eventbrite.  |