{"id":8213,"date":"2023-07-10T04:21:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T08:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevillagetrip.com\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=8213"},"modified":"2023-08-18T06:02:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:02:10","slug":"the-village-trip-lecture-2023","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/www.thevillagetrip.com\/event\/the-village-trip-lecture-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenwich Village as Harlem\u2019s Preamble and Echo: A Random Illustrated Survey: The Village Trip Lecture by Eric K Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[J.A. Arneaux | 1885 advert for The Astor Place Tragedy Co. production of Othello! ]<\/span><\/p>\n

A close look at Greenwich Village reveals an often surprising pentimento of centuries-old African American history. Many unfamiliar and long forgotten place names reemerge like \u201cLand of the Blacks\u201d and \u201cLittle Africa.\u201d We detect early footprints of such social institutions as the Freedman\u2019s Bank, or of congregations, long since relocated, of Mother A.M.E. Zion, Abyssinian Baptist and the Roman Catholic St. Benedict the Moor churches.<\/p>\n

We can fairly imagine the excitement of bygone Black theatrical ventures such as the African Grove Theatre or the Astor Place Tragedy Company. We fall in with the throng of some 3,000 Black citizens celebrating the State Assembly\u2019s 1873 civil rights bill. Or we\u2019re swayed by the earnest shepherding of such educators as Sarah J.S. Tompkins, or orator Henry Highland Garnet, or held in thrall by the musical spells of Mrs. Daisy Tapley with her Wanamaker\u2019s Colored Chorus.<\/p>\n

Eric\u2019s illustrated lecture, culled from some of his various projects, offers a randomly select view of the Village and its environs as a vibrant center of Black social life before it shifted miles farther uptown.<\/p>\n