Before Central Park: The Lost Story of Seneca Village: How New York's First Black Property-Owning Community Was Erased to Build America's Most Famous Park

What if America's most beloved park was built on stolen dreams? In 1825, when slavery still gripped the nation, a remarkable community took root in Manhattan. Seneca Village—New York's first neighborhood of Black property owners—was a place where African American families held deeds to their land, voted, built churches, and sent their children to school. Here, nearly 300 people created something revolutionary: a community of true ownership, dignity, and hope. Then, in 1857, it vanished. Seized by eminent domain and demolished to build Central Park, Seneca Village was so thoroughly erased that for over a century, most New Yorkers didn't know it had ever existed. The families who fought to keep their homes lost everything. The children who played in those yards were scattered. And the story of their thriving community was buried beneath America's most famous park. Before Central Park uncovers this hidden history through painstaking research, archaeological evidence, and the voices of descendants still fighting for recognition. James G. Edwards II reveals how racist propaganda justified displacement, how prosperity was stolen in the name of progress, and how one community's erasure became a blueprint for urban removal that continues today. This is more than history—it's a reckoning. A story of what was lost, who profited, and why remembering Seneca Village matters now more than ever. The ground beneath our feet remembers. It's time we did too.