A shoeshiner named Andrew Williams bought three lots for $125 in 1825. He was twenty five years old.
What he actually bought was a ballot. New York let a Black man vote if he lived in the state three years. And owned $250 in property.
So they owned. Homes. Three churches. A school. A burial ground. By 1850 more than half the Black households there owned property, five times the rate for the city as a whole.
The state authorised the taking in 1853. The city took title in 1856. By 1857 they were gone, and the commissioners were already calling it the Central Park.
They didn't take a village. They took a voting bloc.
100% combed cotton, 6.5 oz heavyweight
Regular fit, side-seamed with shoulder-to-shoulder taping
Ribbed neck, double-needle hems, pre-shrunk
Printed to order in our own shop
Fit note: Regular fit with a refined drape. True to size.
