Did you know before Central Park was built a rural community of African Americans owned property & built homes there?  They were displaced to build the park & it took well over a century for New Yorkers to rediscover Seneca Village.

This episode features Dr. Nan Rothschild, a historical archaeologist and Professor Emerita at Columbia University who worked on the team that excavated Seneca Village, a predominantly African American community that was displaced to build Central Park in the nineteenth century. We discuss why Seneca Village is a historically significant site and what it took to convince the reluctant NYC Parks Department to allow an excavation to take place, among many other fascinating topics.

Dr. Rothschild has done archaeological work in New York City and the American Southwest, and most of her research concerns the expression of social realities in materiality, focusing on gender, ethnicity, race and social class.To learn more about Dr. Nan Rothschild's work, visit this link: https://anthropology.columbia.edu/content/nan-rothschild

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Everyday Environmentalism is a podcast that tells past and present stories about "urban nature" in New York City. We interview current activists in tandem with environmental historians to produce a long history of the ways ordinary New Yorkers have experienced the urban outdoors and created more sustainable relationships with their environment.

This podcast is hosted by Amanda Martin-Hardin, Maddy Aubey, and Prem Thakker.

Visit www.everydayenvironmentalism.org for more information.

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For a full transcript of this podcast, visit this URL: *coming soon*