My Seneca Village

by Marilyn Nelson

Overview

Poetry illustrated in the poet's own words - with brief prose descriptions of what she sees inside her work -- this exquisite collection takes readers back in time and deep into the mind's eye of Marilyn Nelson.

A girl ponders being free-but-not-free. Orphaned brothers get gold fever. A conjurer sees past his time and into ours. The voices of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial 19th century Manhattan neighborhood are rising again

One of America's most honored writers - a Newbery Honor medalist, Coretta Scott King Medalist and National Book Award nominee -draws upon history, and her astonishing imagination, to revive the long lost community of Seneca Village.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608981977
Publisher:	namelos
Publication date:	04/30/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	98
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Editorial Reviews

Before its extinction, Seneca Village served as a multi-ethnic home predominantly to African Americans, Irish immigrants, and German immigrants. People living in Seneca Village enjoyed all of the amenities of a community such as schools, churches, and businesses. Families and friendships provided the core of the village. Seneca Village offered a stable safe-haven for its citizens until the City of New York used the power of eminent domain to absorb it for its plans to create Central Park. Eliminating Seneca Village displaced thousands of residents who never recovered from their loss. Nelson uses poetry, accompanied by brief prose, to introduce readers to a long-forgotten community that existed only from 1825 through 1857. Themes throughout the novel center on community, family, and friendship. Each poem represents a different citizen, time, and perspective in relation to Seneca Village. The work seeks to provide readers with a holistic look at the evolution and destruction of the community through the use of multiple perspectives; unfortunately, the text introduces so many perspectives that it proves difficult for the reader to remember significant details about characters in order to create a connection or frame of reference. Written for ages twelve and up, the novel serves as a quick, easy read that might appeal to reluctant readers. Educators and librarians wanting to incorporate multicultural, historical fiction might find this a positive addition to their shelves for specific readers. Reviewer: Courtney M. Krieger-Munday; Ages 11 to 15.

VOYA, December 2015 (Vol. 38, No. 5) - Courtney M. Krieger-Munday

Newbery and multi-Coretta Scott King honoree, Marilyn Nelson, brings us back to Seneca Village in 1825. Seneca Village existed from 1825 through 1857. It was located between 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Upper West Side area of New York City. Seneca Village was Manhattan’s first significant community of African American property owners. By 1840, it became a multi-ethnic community of African Americans, Irish and German immigrants, and possibly a few Native Americans. In 1858 it became Central Park—New York’s first public park, eventually acquiring over 700 acres through the use eminent domain law. In My Seneca Village, the main character, Matilda Polk, narrates a series of poems. Constructing the lives of more than 30 characters based on names found in census records, Nelson describes their celebrations, tragedies, and transformative moments, like when African Americans become property owners for the first time. There are also moments of struggle, like when Brother James is captured and sold in Baltimore because he was accused of being a runaway slave. Excitement abounds when the Donnelly brothers read the morning headline of gold in California. There are brief snapshots of historical figures, like Fredrick Douglass. But then the New York State law of eminent domain hits Seneca Village. Matilda Polk sits in a wagon loaded with her belongings. She sadly waves goodbye as all her neighbors pack their own belongings. Each poem is brief, and is like looking into the mind of the poet as history unfolds. Nelson provides readers with an explanation of which poems are written traditionally and which poems employ other methods. This collection is highly recommended for students learning about poetry as well as this time period in history. Reviewer: Denise Hartzler; Ages 10 to 16.

Children's Literature - Denise Hartzler

★ 12/01/2015
Gr 5 Up—This beautifully crafted and powerful collection of poems deals with a brief period (1825–57) in New York City's storied past. Seneca Village, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was a thriving multiethnic community of African Americans, Irish and German immigrants, and, possibly, some Native Americans, until it was decimated by the creation of Central Park. After poring over the written accounts and census records, renowned poet Nelson sat down to imagine the lives of a number of the residents, giving voice to individuals based on the names and identifying labels. Brief paragraphs set each scene, followed by a poem in the voice of the Seneca Villager. Readers hear from a bootblack, a conjure-man, a reverend, a hairdresser, a nurse, a mariner, schoolchildren, a music teacher, tub-men hauling sewage to the river, an elderly conductor on the Underground Railroad, and abolitionist and activist Maria W. Stewart. As in any impoverished community, the hardships are palpable—babies die of misunderstood diseases, people are victimized by their starving neighbors, there's violence and cruelty—but there is also resilience, hard-won independence, and hope for its children's futures. In the spirit of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology, this work touches on historical truths (footnoted throughout) but introduces a fleeting time and place through the everyday hopes and dreams of its residents. VERDICT This rich and diverse (a variety of poetic forms, including ones invented for certain speakers, are featured) piece of American literature belongs in every collection.—Luann Toth, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2015-08-05
The little-known story of the settlement that preceded Central Park. Newbery and multi-Coretta Scott King honoree Nelson here re-creates Seneca Village, a path-breaking 19th-century Manhattan community that included the first significant assemblage of African-American property owners living alongside Irish and German immigrants. In a series of poems, Nelson constructs the lives of more than 30 characters based on names found in census records. Their story is at once celebratory and tragic, highlighting the struggles and triumphs of this transformative moment as dirt-poor Irish immigrants escape the potato famine of 1845, German immigrants struggle to make it in the New World, and African-Americans negotiate the transition from slavery to freedom and property ownership: "Freed by a miraculous codicil, / I find myself the owner of one me, / two slightly swampy lots, one deeeep well, / one one-room palace, and opportunity." This incredibly integrated society comes to an end when the city executes powers of eminent domain to create Central Park. Nelson chooses prose narrative to connect these 40-some lyric fictional portraits that include schoolchildren, a mariner, a bootblack, a hairdresser, a musician, bar owners, lovers, and a fortuneteller, among others, along with poignant snapshots of famous historical figures Frederick Douglass and Maria Stewart, the first African-American woman to lecture on politics and religion. Artfully crafted, an engrossing and important collection of memories and moments from a pivotal time in American history. (foreword, notes on poetic forms) (Historical fiction/poetry. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews