As plans to build Central Park developed in the 1850s, the inhabitants of the communities in the park area, their dwellings, and their surroundings were characterized negatively by the media and by the park's advocates.

Their homes were described as "shantytowns" and Seneca Village was called "Nigger Village."

The people who lived there were called "squatters," "simple-minded," "insects," "bloodsuckers," and "wretched and debased."

Many residents fought for the right to keep their land and their community intact. Some fought with brawn, others fought through the legal system, filing Affidavits of Petition in State Supreme Court that stated their objections to being forced to leave and requested better compensation (payment) for their land.

The residents of Seneca Village were given final notice to leave in the summer of 1856. By 1857, a substantial community with deep spiritual and familial ties--some that went back over thirty years--had vanished without leaving much evidence of their past...or of their future.