My Seneca Village

by Marilyn Nelson

Quiet for more than 135 years, the voices of Seneca Village are rising again. Angela Riddles ponders being free-but-not-free. The orphaned Donnelly brothers get gold fever. A conjurer sees past his era and into ours.Drawing upon history and her exquisite imagination, Newbery Honor medalist, two-time Coretta Scott King Honor medalist, and National Book Award nomineee Marilyn Nelson recreates the long lost community of Seneca Village. A multi-racial, multi-ethnic neighborhood in the center of Manhattan, it thrived in the middle years of the 19th century. Families prayed in its churches, children learned in its school, babies were born, and loved ones were laid to rest. Then work crews arrived to build Central Park, and Seneca Village disappeared.Illustrated in the poet’s own words — with brief prose descriptions of what she sees inside her poems — this collection takes readers back in time and deep into the mind’s eye of one of America’s most gifted writers. Included as well is a foreword that outlines the history of Seneca Village and a guide to the variety of poetic forms she employs throughout this exceptional book.

Genres: Poetry, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical, African American, Childrens

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2015

About the author

Marilyn Nelson is the author of many acclaimed books for young people and adults, including CARVER: A LIFE IN POEMS, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL, a Printz Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She also translated THE LADDER, a picture book by Halfdan Rasmussen. She lives in East Haddam, Connecticut.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/marilyn-...

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book’s introduction, “Welcome to My Seneca Village,” Marilyn Nelson explains:

“Seneca Village existed from 1825 through 1857. It was located between 82nd Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Upper West Side of New York City. Today, this area is part of Central Park. While it existed, Seneca Village was Manhattan’s first significant community of African American property owners. By the 1840s, it had become a multiethnic community of African Americans, Irish and German immigrants, and perhaps a few Native Americans. According to the 1855 New York State Census, there were some 264 individuals living there. There were three churches. There was a school. There were several cemeteries. There were businesses. There were homes, with yards and gardens. There was an apple orchard. There were families. There were friends. There was happiness, there was grief. By 1857, everyone would have been forced to move, and Seneca Village would be completely erased by the creation of Central Park.”

If you are unfamiliar with Marilyn Nelson’s poetry, know that she works extensively with historical materials, immersing herself in research, study, compassion, and imagination, which she then manages to distill into traditional poetic forms - the sonnet being a particular favorite. I have loved her treatment of the lives and times of people such as George Washington Carver, Emmett Till, and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

In these 41 poems, Marilyn Nelson has imagined Seneca Village inhabitants of all personalities, ages, genders, races, and occupations to create a portrait of a place and time that doesn’t have much to recommend it by way of visual representation. Unlike her other poetry collections which have rich visual accompaniment - illustrations or photographs - My Seneca Village has neither. Instead, Nelson introduces each poem with a prose visual description. In her [end]notes about the poems, Nelson explains her employment of quatrains (four-line rhyming stanzas); exact and slant rhymes; and sonnets, for this collection.

from pages 70-71:
“A group of about ten village children of various ages, playing in front of or behind a recognizable house or church or school. One of the older boys is Chris Tietjen, white, German. All of the other older children are black. There may be one or two other white children, but they are too young to play major roles. Chris is speaking to the combined group, gesturing with raised eyebrows.

Make-Believe
Christian Tietjen, ca. 1852

How come you get to be heroic slaves
crossing a river of ice floes to get free,
and I always have to be Simon Legree?

Why is it always me snapping the whip
while you flee screaming, or huddle in an embrace?
You make me feel like I’m in the wrong race!

Why don’t you be the masters, for a change?
The game doesn’t have to be always played the same.
Pretend you have no humility, no shame.

I’ll be saintly, enslaved nobility,
and you, caving in to the red pitchforks of greed,
sell me down river, after promising I’d be freed.


C.W. Taylor’s stage dramatization of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was first performed in New York City at Purdy’s National Theatre in 1852.”

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before there was Central Park, there was a thriving multi-racial, multi-ethnic community in Manhattan called Seneca Village. Eminent domain was used to claim the land where this community stood for decades and ceased to exist when it was raised to make way for Central Park. Nelson brings this community back to life by vividly imagining some its inhabitants and their times in verse. A fascinating, artfully crafted work.

[Virginia Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seneca Village was a community of African American home owners on the upper west side of New York from 1825 through 1857. It was taken through the procedure of eminent domain to create Central Park. Nelson brings its inhabitants to life through a series of portraits in a variety of poetic forms. Based on historical research, these works move the heart and stimulate the mind.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

از سال 1825 تا 1857 جامعه ای چندین نژادی در منهتن وجود داشت که بعدا پارک مرکزی نام گرفت. مرلین نلسون با قوی شاعرانه ی خودش، شرایط زندگی افراد اون زمان رو به متن تبدیل کرده. شعرهای ایشون، زندگی بعضی از آفریقایی آمریکایی ها، زوج های عاشقشون، افرادی که به دنبال طلا به غرب سفر کردن و افراد دیگه رو زنده کرده. کتاب نگاه جذابی میندازه به زندگی افرادی که با تلاششون میخواستن به آرزوهاشون برسن.

[Kim Tyo-Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sepia-hued snapshots in quatrains and sonnets, rhyme and slant rhyme, of the people who lived in the lost community of Seneca Village, New York, before it was razed to create Central Park. Beginning in 1825, Seneca Village was known for having the most African American property owners. Swampy land no one else in Manhattan wanted, they built their homes and planted their gardens in relative peace, with the occasional rioting of angry white citizens threatening the community's hard-won freedoms to life and property. Using census records and the brief labels therein, Nelson connects the imagined lives of the village's inhabitants, freeborn or freed African Americans, Irish immigrants, German eccentrics, biracial families, and even a speech by Frederick Douglass, and creates a haunting glimpse into what might have been for a number of names that appeared simply on census roles. Gripping and poignant lines that leave an indelible curiosity to learn more about their history and to mourn their passing. Of note are the poems that paint a beautiful and tragic portrait of Matilda Polk and her broken heart. Recommended for grades 8 and up.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in the course of an afternoon, My Seneca Village was scintillating in both form and theme. This is my first encounter with Marilyn Nelson's poetry, and I will be sure to seek out more. These are a collection of narrative poems written in quatrains and employing metrical substitutions and variance as good poetry should--for the sake of surprise, resonance, and meaningful sonic correlation. The poems center around Seneca village, the first community in Manhattan where African-Americans made up a significant number of property-owners, in the years between 1825 through 1857. The land was subsequently overtaken by the state of New York through eminent domain to make way for Central Park, of which its footprint is a part. Each poem is introduced with a brief note by the poet on the scene or speaker. Footnotes provide historical context. All in all, an excellent read, stimulating a healthy consideration of one's view of the present in view of the past, but not only this. The characters inspire the imagination, sometimes sorrow, but also surprise humor, and also hope.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice way to show life in Seneca Village in the years before the land was used to become part of Central Park (and all the people of the village displaced). Some lines I especially liked:

page 19 Sky-Land: "I believe vengeance harms the avenging heart."

page 31 Wild Night - inside a church during an anti-abolitionist riot:
I asked everyone to bow their heads and pray.
Pray for this nation's struggle to be free
for ALL Americans. Equality
must be bitter, if you've always been on top,
and you're slapped awake out of a lifelong sleep.
Pray we'll pull together toward a common hope.

page 55 Words and Whispers - Address delivered by Frederick Douglass (1803 - 1870), ca. 1848
It is easier to build strong children
than to piece back together broken men.

85 - 87 About the Poems - the author explains some of the forms and rhyming schemes. She ends with this: "Poets are interested in stuff like this. Maybe you'll find it interesting, too!"

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, the mark of wonderful historical fiction is that it makes me want to find out more about the subject. The mark of good poetry is that it makes me forget it's poetry. This wonderful book does both. The language is beautiful and never forced (like so much modern poetry seems to be), and the subject, illuminated so briefly, is fascinating and tragic. Next trip to New York, I want to find Seneca Village's former location in Central Park and try to imagine how it was back then. And try to imagine how something so great (because I love Central Park, you guys) could come from such a horrible beginning.

Favorite poem: Rejoice With Me. Favorite lines from said poem:
"The truest evidence that Jesus lives
is not a vacant grave, but fellowship;
not a stone rolled away, but a whole church
carried away, filled with the Christ spirit!"

[Rebecca Millerjohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology is one of my favorite books. I was amazed at his ability to capture the true nature of a people and place through the small snippets we got through their deaths. My Seneca Village is another poetic master piece like this, even mentioning Master's work in the foreword as inspiration. In this collection of poems through the time we see the diversity, struggle, and celebration of the short lived Seneca Village in New York during the 1800s before it was demolished to create Central Park. An incredible snapshot of what it was like to be "free" and Black in this time period. Fabulously done.

[Tamara Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable series of Marilyn Nelson's imaginative and heartwarming verse (which I've just learned can be referenced as lyric histories. How delightful!) inspired by the real lives, work, and suffering of a community of people I'd never heard of before. I appreciated the brief description preceding each poem that served almost as a screenplay to help me imagine what the poem invited me to see. Now I want to visit Central Park with their stories in my heart and mind. I also want to know a whole lot more about the real-life New York City residents of Seneca Village.

[Yapha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating history told through a series of poems. It felt like I was reading a play, the way each vignette was set up. The poems are beautifully written and really give a flavor of the time and all that was lost when Seneca Village was destroyed to create Central Park. I am not sure why this is being talked about as a children's book, however. It does not strike as a book for children at all.

[Lilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the length of this book. The pages are packed with poetry that packs a punch, and I'm amazed at Nelson's ability to create a community through these poems. I want to know more about the history of Seneca village.

What I truly appreciated about Nelson's book was her forward and afterward as well. She wrote about her poetic style, which I truly appreciated. This is a book for everyone.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though SENECA VILLAGE is excellent, I'm surprised to have found it in our Children's Department. It is a collection of poems that tell the story of a community in New York City in the nineteenth century, a community that is now lost. It's fascinating and sometimes heart-wrenching, but rather mature for most of our readers. Still I would happily recommend it to the right reader, with an interest in history, and certainly to YA readers.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Seneca Village, my first experience with Marilyn Nelson's poetry, is a beautifully written verse novel telling the story of the historical Seneca Village of New York City. The village was demolished for the creation of Central Park and lost to history for several generations to come. I have to admit that before reading I was completely unaware of the rich history of this settlement.
Because I knew so little, I really appreciated the format of this text. Each poem includes a stage note of sorts informing the reader of the setting and historical information relevant to each scene. I found these notes very compelling and felt drawn into the lives of the townspeople all the more by knowing the surrounding circumstances. I also found it very interesting how Nelson successfully ties several nationally recognized historical events into the comings and goings of the town.
While Nelson captures a touching, diverse segment of American history, I don't think this text will connect with younger readers (unless they have a strong interest in poetry possibly). This would be a great example for teaching poetry techniques as she uses a number of different styles and forms and includes an interesting description of her styling in the text, but the average reader might skip this based on the style and subject matter. Although this is directed towards young adults, I would recommend this to adults who might better appreciate the subject and style.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Seneca Village is a collection of poems from people who once populated Seneca Village. Seneca Village was once one of the first significant communities of Black people. It also housed German and Irish immigrants. It was destroyed when Central Park was built. Marilyn Nelson has taken the names of people who once lived there and envisioned their lives. She has brought the people of Seneca Village to life through this series of poems. I was not aware of the existence of Seneca Village until I heard about this book. I found the whole topic really interesting and would have loved more history of the settlement. Poetry is really not my strong suit. I always feel like I am missing something when I read poetry. I enjoyed these poems, but found I really wanted more; either more text or more information or just more. I wanted more than just the snippets of people we see in the poems. I also found the text before the poems both helpful and frustrating. I wanted more of that as well.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Seneca Village is a book telling the tale of Seneca Village, a primarily African American community in New York City. Seneca Village was where lies today's Central Park. The story is told through poems and commentary between each poem about the people residing in Seneca Village. The book speaks of the resident's newly found freedom, dreams of a bright future, and plans to come. I found the poems beautifully written and perfect for portraying life in Seneca Village.

I rated this book three out of five stars. The poems were truly beautiful and told of their life in a very unusual way. However, I find it to be very difficult to follow. I had to reread multiple pages to fully comprehend who the poems spoke of. I could see this book as a fantastic addition to a lesson on life after slavery, or life as an African American. It could also be used for a unit on poetry. I found this book using the Database of Award Winning Children's Literature.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1825 to 1857 a thriving, vibrant and diverse community existed in Manhattan in what would later become Central Park. Through a series of poems and her own imaginings of the area's residents, poet Marilyn Nelson describes events in the lives of those individuals. Her musings and poems bring to life some of the first African Americans to own property in the area as well as abolitionists, ministers, couples in love, brothers heading west for gold and glory, and a biracial couple dealing with loss amid the disapproval of their own family members. One of my favorite poems ("The Shakespeare Riot" deals with an 1834 riot over the staging of Richard III with an all-black cast. These marvelous lines provide insight into a time, place, and men and women long gone. The book provices a fascinating glimpse into ordinary individuals searching for a way to make their own dreams come true.

[Kris Springer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, heartfelt exploration, via poetry, of Seneca Village, Manhattan's first sizable African-American community. It existed from 1825-1857, when the houses and buildings were taken by the state to build Central Park. Using historical documents and her imagination, Nelson creates families, love stories and the feel of a real town. Nelson's books also explore the poetic structure and introduce young readers to Nelson's methods and artistry. Beautiful, bittersweet and worth reading. For ages 10 through adult.

[Rinku · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this poetry book and look forward to reading more poetry.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid portrayal in the vein of Spoon River Anthology.

[Debbie Rothstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Seneca Village is a book of poems by Marilyn Nelson and it gives poetic voices to fictional people who inhabited a few hundred acres of land in a portion of what would later become Central Park in NYC. It takes place from 1825-1855. It is written with words of joy, sadness and most of all, truth. A lovely read

[Gena Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marilyn Nelson is the 2017 recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Nelson's previous works, Carver: A Life in Poems and A Wreath for Emmett Till have garnered Nelson significant recognition as a National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honor Book medalist, Coretta Scott King Honor Book medalist, Printz Honor Book medalist, and a Lee Bennet Hopkins Poetry Award Honoree (Nelson 2017).

Her 2015 book My Seneca Village tells the story of a multicultural community in Manhattan in an area that was taken over by the city government to become a part of Central Park. Set in the years 1825 - 1855, Nelson reveals the history of Seneca Village through a series of forty-one poems narrated by a community of characters, ranging from a bootblack to a young schoolboy to historical figures like Maria Stewart and Fredrick Douglass. Nelson based many of the events in the poems on what her imagination conjured after reading census records from Seneca Village, but some of the events are fictionalized accounts of real historical occurrences. Such events are indicated with italicized notes at the end of the poems with the factual information available.

My Seneca Village has a table of contents listing every poem. Following the table of contents, Nelson includes a "Welcome to Seneca Village" to explain the community and how she became acquainted with the villagers that eventually narrate her poems. On the right side of each spread, Nelson sets the scene for the poem, explaining what she "sees" or introducing a character or setting. The poem is then printed on the left side of each spread. The book closes with a helpful "About the Poems" section in which she explains the varying formats and rhyme schemes she uses. Her explanation is very helpful for people (like me) who may not recognize the structures and rhymes of classic poetic styles or for budding poets who want to try their hand at writing a terza rima sonnet or a found poem.

The majority of the poems are composed in quatrains with various rhyme schemes and styles. For example, the opening poem "Land Owner" uses both exact rhymes like "wage/sage" and "vote/boat" and slant rhymes like "work/talk" and "Canal/heel" in each stanza. Other poems, like "Sisters of Charity" use what Nelson calls "conceptual rhyme" where the connection between the words is not a shared sound, but a shared idea. In "Sisters of Charity," she uses opposites to form the conceptual rhyme, pairing concepts like "day/night," "more/less," and "poor/rich."

Nelson works in several other poetic forms in addition to the rhyming quatrains. She includes sonnets like "Address" and "Pigs on the Ice" as well as a poem written to imitate a wedding announcement. In "The Park Theatre" and "The Shakespeare Riot," both poems about Shakespearean plays, Nelson pays homage to the iambic pentameter of William Shakespeare. She even invented a poetic form for one character, and all poems narrated by that character take on the form she calls "Tildie."

The language of My Seneca Village maintains a more conversational style, reflective of characters narrating their daily lives. But even within these conversations, Nelson drops in tantalizing bits of alliteration and imagery to create strong images for readers. For example, in "Council of Brothers," the youngest of five brothers refers to "a growling gut" and "wearing Hugh's smelly, outgrown, leaky boots," creating an image of the impoverished life the young men have been living.

My Seneca Village is recommended for children in fifth grade and up. The lack of illustrations, more complex vocabulary, and cover of muted colors clearly mark this as a book for older students. In the library, this book would probably need special promotion, for its outward appearance truly belies the fascinating history and skilled poetry inside.

[Padma Venkatraman]

I had the pleasure of reading MY SENECA VILLAGE about a year ago, when I was honored with an invitation to judge School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books. Although it wasn’t one of “my” two books to judge, I read it not once but twice.
MY SENECA VILLAGE is yet another exquisite collection of poems around a common theme, like Nelson’s HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY, A WREATH FOR EMMET TILL and her Newberry winning CARVER: A LIFE IN POEMS. In this book, Nelson conjured up a nineteenth century Manhattan village, and draws us, body, mind and soul, into the heart of lost community.
Seneca Village was, as the poet mentions in her foreword, “Manhattan’s first significant community of African American property owners.” Established in 1825, it flourished until 1857. After this, it was forcibly extinguished. The inhabitants were forced to move, in order to create Central Park.
After reading Nelson’s breath-taking book, I can never again amble through Central Park without wondering about those lives that were so profoundly altered when the park was created. Nelson’s imagined characters are of different races and ethnicities. We meet “ivory-skinned and ebony-eyed” Matilda Pol, in whom “the lamb and the lion lay down side by side”; beautiful, finely dressed Angelina whose shapely shoulders are draped with a shawl of Belgian lace; Freddy sitting at his school desk, pondering “Why don’t the stars fall down? Did Adam name/ the numbers?...”
Each poem is prefaced with a short prose description, written by the poet herself – and by the time the we reach the end, we are rooting for this community’s survival. Indeed, although Seneca Village vanished, it has been given another lasting life by Nelson. And, most suitably, in the last poem in the collection, we hear “Uncle Epiphany” speak: “I am one who knows that time and we are mist/ hiding Light’s ever-changing panorama/ where the future holds a President Obama.” That line moves me to tears each time I read it – because it is filled with such hope and courage.
It is the poet’s triumph that we feel both the pain the residents must have suffered when they were forced to move, as well as the strength with which they must have carried on. That she leaves us feeling, not hopeless, but instead inspired to act and speak out and fight for justice.
And in a valuable essay “About the poems” - at the very end of the book – Nelson takes us inside her work and helps us appreciate, even more deeply, the work and craft and skill with which she polishes each of her gems. This section will be an invaluable teaching resource – and I hope very much that this book will be embraced by many teachers and that it will grace many English Language Arts and Social Studies classrooms, so that teachers and students may engage in thought-provoking discussions about the issues the residents of Seneca Village faced, and the issues our African-American community continues to battle today.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lack of source notes, maps, document clippings, or reproductions of sketched period illustrations, and a significant typo in the first paragraph of the book invite a skepticism and a cerebral response that made it difficult for me to fully engage in the content. (from p. viii; "According to the 1885 New York State Census, there were 264 individuals living there..." "1885" should be "1855" according the the New York State Historical Society - which is significant because that counts the number of residents 2 years before they were evicted, rather than 28 years after.)

The one-paragraph descriptions on the left-hand pages meant to set the scene for the poems on the right-hand pages repeatedly call to mind a photograph or other visual record, which left me with the feeling that the author or some historians actually have those images, but I'm allowed only a brief glimpse at them - too brief to really see what's there.

There is a three-page note in the back-matter that explains the rhyme scheme; "Even the casual reader will surely recognize the traditional poetic forms underlying most of these poems..." - but I did not recognize any of the things she refers to. By the 9th poem, I did realize that some of them at least were supposed to have rhymed.

Because I was uncomfortable with the format and presentation, I struggled to focus on the content...and after multiple readings, was frustrated by what felt like too much of the author's presence in what essentially amounted to invented dialogue for a dozen characters. In my opinion, readers won't know these characters well enough to evaluate whether their thoughts and feelings ring true or false.

The overall feeling I was left with; that I was blindfolded and rushed through a natural history museum exhibit about Seneca Village where someone I don't know told stories taken from inadequate exhibit-labels on all the dioramas.

[Teresa Scherping Moulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems in this book are beautifully written, creatively imagined, carefully composed, and clearly well-researched. The story of Seneca Village, the first established African-American community in Manhattan, is fascinating and too seldom talked about. It makes me sad now to think of Central Park only existing as it is because the land was forced away from African-Americans and poor immigrants. The only quibble I have about this book aside from the cover (which is pretty unappealing) is that the really interesting information about the forms, rhyme, and meter of the poems is stuck in the back of the book in an author's note. I'm not very knowledgeable about poetry, so I totally missed the way the author was playing with traditional forms and newer rhyme schemes! I wish I had known that while reading each one. The whole thing is really very finely crafted and lovely.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Seneca Village is a set of poems that take place in Seneca Village, New York City in the early to mid 1800s. I usually enjoy poetry but I had a hard time focusing on these poems and remembering what all was happening in them. However, Nelson does a wonderful job incorporating major historical events (like Nat Turner's Rebellion) into the poems and includes notes that flush out their significance to Seneca Village. Nelson also does a good job conveying the poverty and frustration that many living in Seneca Village most likely felt. That being said, I didn't really enjoy this book. I didn't find it memorable.

I received a copy of this book for consideration for an award.

[Barb Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make sure you read the author's notes at the end. Great description of her poetic chapters. Story of when Seneca Village's population of African Americans and other immigrants were forced out of their homes and businesses because New York city officials wanted to build Central Park. I liked the narration before the poetry and historical facts given before and at the end of the poems that helped with setting and characters. I wished there had been more text as I had a hard time picturing it in the beginning, but as the story progresses it becomes easier to visualize. Good to use if you are studying poetry. Short book - only 90 pages.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about Seneca Village until reading this book, which is shameful. Who hasn't heard of Central Park? It also reminded me of Malaga Island here in Maine, where a community of free black people were relocated to improve the view.

Anyway, Nelson's poetry, each prefaced by a statement setting the scene, shows you the bustling life of Seneca Village between the 1820s and late 1850s. People dream, die, fall in love and explore. The Fugitive Slave Act and violence hovers around the edges, but life seems pretty normal.

I would personally shelve this in a YA collection, as I think that base knowledge of the slave trade and the upcoming Civil War would enhance the reading.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seneca Village was the first community of African America property owners. It as located on the Upper West Side in an area that is now part of Central Park. A viable community with a school, businesses and three churches that was acquired by eminent domain and whose inhabitants were forced to leave by 1857 for the creation of the park.
The book is a collection of poems told by the citizens imagined by Mary Nelson depicting of their lives and livelihoods during their time living in Seneca Village.
This unique little book offers a glimpse into a little known place in history.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and lyrical, this imagined historical fiction collection of vignettes, abut the real Seneca Village, was concise and poignant. Reminiscent of Langston Hughes, these poems showcase what life might have been like in a community in New York made up of African Americans, Irish immigrants and a scattering of a few other cultures. Set in the 1820s through the 1840s, this is a little known chapter in African American history.