The Seneca Village was recently featured on a segment of CUNY TV’s A Slice of New York. Seneca Village was a 19th- century African American and Irish immigrant community located in present-day Central Park. After the village was destroyed for the construction of the park, the community was forgotten for well over a century. Archaeologists and students from City College and other local schools have conducted documentary research and archaeological excavations at the village.
The dig was a focal point of a research project that the directors of the Seneca Village Project, now known as the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History, Inc., undertook in 2011. Its success took persistence and patience, as well as the help of generations of students. This CUNY TV segment tells the story of that project which has been led by Diana Wall, Professor emeritus Colin Powell School’s Anthropology Department and Herbert Seignoret of the Colin Powell School as well as Cynthia Copeland from NYU and Nan Rothchild, professor emeritus Barnard College. This month marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Seneca community.
Colin Powell School faculty and staff worked with the Central Park Conservancy and the Mother AEM Zion Church to Celebrate Founders Day, the 200th anniversary of Seneca Village this past Sunday, September 14th, 2025 at the Mother AEM Zion Church in Harlem.
Watch the full CUNY TV segment on the Seneca Village below.
