 tight-knit community approximately half the african-american population own their own home in the village and with it the right to vote but by 1853 the new york legislature enacted a law that would erase the area for the creation of central park eminent domain would be used to acquire the land and while owners were compensated many believe their land was undervalued to justify its destruction a racist smear campaign targeted the community portraying it as a poor area with disheveled shanty-like housing