- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
Alexander Manevitz is an historian, educator, and public scholar on race, freedom, and urbanism in the nineteenth-century United States and New York City. He specializes in African American history, the history of early American capitalism, and how a diverse array of Americans shaped the growth of the cities we live in today.
His current research project and book manuscript, The Rise and Fall of Seneca Village: Remaking Race and Space in Nineteenth-Century New York City, is under contract with Cornell University Press. At the intersection of African American history, the history of urban development, and questions of historical memory, Professor Manevitz investigates Seneca Village, the largest African American landowning community in New York City until it was destroyed to build Central Park in the late antebellum period. Piecing together forgotten traces of the neighborhood and highlighting the voices of marginalized New Yorkers, he analyzes the creation, destruction, and dispersal of a free Black community that grappled with racial discrimination, internal class tensions, and the inequalities of a transforming urban property regime to establish an experimental model of Black freedom and citizenship.
Professor Manevitz teaches courses in American history, African American history, as well as the histories of capitalism and New York City. With experience in both higher education and secondary schools, he seeks to expand students’ views of the world and enable them to analyze the past from multiple perspectives, using interdisciplinary methods to highlight diverse voices and experiences. By thinking critically about the past’s implications for the world around them today, students learn that history is an ongoing process in which they have the power to intervene.
Professor Manevitz received his Ph.D. in U.S. History from New York University in 2016. Prior to joining the faculty and students of Baruch, he has been a Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies at Trinity College (Hartford), a Schwartz Postdoctoral Fellow at the New-York Historical Society and the New School University, and a history teacher at an independent secondary school. He has collaborated with New York City cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New-York Historical Society, and you can find his work in publications from the Journal of Urban History to the Washington Post.
Education
Ph.D., History, New York University New York United States
B.A., History, Trinity College Hartford United States
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | HIS | 1005 | Modern American History |
| Fall 2023 | HIS | 3060 | African American History |
| Fall 2023 | BLS | 3060 | African American History |
| Spring 2023 | BLS | 3060 | African American History |
| Spring 2023 | HIS | 3060 | African American History |
| Spring 2023 | HIS | 1005 | Modern American History |
| Spring 2023 | HIS | 1005 | Modern American History |
| Fall 2022 | BLS | 3060 | African American History |
| Fall 2022 | HIS | 1005 | Modern American History |
| Fall 2022 | HIS | 1005 | Modern American History |
| Fall 2022 | HIS | 3060 | African American History |
Books
Manevitz, A. The Rise and Fall of Seneca Village: Remaking Race and Space in Nineteenth-Century New York City. Cornell University Press. In Progress.
Journal Articles
Manevitz, A. (2022). “A Great Injustice”: Urban Capitalism and the Limits of Freedom in Nineteenth-Century New York City. Journal of Urban History, 48(6). pp. 1365–1382.
Media Contributions
Manevitz, A. (2020). “Seneca Village,” Sites and Sounds Podcast, Season 3: Lost NYC, Gotham Center for New York City History, City University of New York. .
Manevitz, A. (2020). “The Failures of Reconstruction Have Never Been More Evident — or Relevant — Than Today,” Washington Post.
Manevitz, A. (2014). “Seneca Village Memory: The Problem of Forgetting,” The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History .
Presentations
Manevitz, A. Power and the Possibilities of Remembering: Unearthing Hidden Black Histories in New York City. Trinity Social Justice Institute: Trinity College.
Manevitz, A. (2024, February 21). Foundations of Seneca Village. Faculty Fellowship Publication Program. New York: CUNY.
Manevitz, A. Graduate History Teaching Workshop and Orientation. : Department of History, New York University.
Manevitz, A. (2024, March 21). “Partnerships in History Education: K – 12 Educators, Public historians, and Academic Historians in Collaboration”. "Confronting Crises: History for Uncertain Times" Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Lost Angeles, California: Organization of American Historians.
Manevitz, A. "Seneca Village Stories: Opportunities and Inequalities". Early American Republic Seminar, Department of History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York. The Graduate Center: City University of New York.
Manevitz, A. “Redefining African American Freedom in Seneca Village and the Archives”. Slavery in New York. : New York University.
Manevitz, A. (2024, October 21). “The Social Destruction of Seneca Village: Environmental Propaganda and the Creation of Central Park”. Olmsted: Bicentennial Perspectives. : Harvard University, Graduate School of Design.
Manevitz, A. “Racialized Urban Reform and the Dispossession of Village”. Race and the Environment. : New York University.
Manevitz, A. “Recovering Fragments and the Stories of Seneca Village". Before Yesterday We Could Fly: A Creative Convening on Afrofuturism. : Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Manevitz, A. “Finding Freedom in Seneca Village and New York City”. History Club. : California State University, Chico.
Manevitz, A. “Fairness, Power, and Progress in Seneca Village and New York City”. Sixth Grade Assembly. : Riverdale Country School.
Manevitz, A. “Freedom and the Built Environment of Seneca Village”. Building Urban America. : Suffolk University.
Manevitz, A. “Seneca Village: Yorkville and the Transformation of New York City”. Past and Future. : 1014, Inc..
Manevitz, A. “Living a Free Life in Seneca Village”. Teen Scholars Program. : New-York Historical Society.
Manevitz, A. “Urban Capitalism and the Limits of Freedom”. History Department Workshop. : The New School.
Manevitz, A. “Living and Finding a Free Life in Seneca Village”. Lab for Teen Thinkers. : Bard Graduate Center.
Manevitz, A. “Real Estate and Reimagining African American Free Space in New York City”. 2020 Annual Meeting. : Vernacular Architecture Forum – New England.
Manevitz, A. “The Meaning of Freedom in Seneca Village”. Library Fellows Series. : New-York Historical Society.
Manevitz, A. “Where Death Himself Hesitates to Enter”: The Social Destruction of Seneca Village and the Struggle for Environmental Control in Antebellum New York City”. The Atlantic History Workshop. : New York University.
Manevitz, A. “The Liberatory Limits of Urban Capitalism: Freedom and Property in Seneca Village”. Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. : Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and Harvard Law School.
Manevitz, A. “How to Destroy a Neighborhood: Marginalizing Land and People to Build Central Park in Nineteenth-Century New York City”. Global Vantage Points Lecture Series. : Center for Urban and Global Studies, Trinity College.
Manevitz, A. “‘A Great Injustice:’ Seneca Villagers’ Fight for Land in Antebellum New York City”. Engaging the Urban in the Liberal Arts. : Center for Urban and Global Studies, Trinity College.
Manevitz, A. “Seneca Village and the Contested Meanings of Property in Nineteenth-Century New York City”. : McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
Manevitz, A. “Stories of Seneca Village in Early Republic New York City”. Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. : Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and Yale University.
Manevitz, A. “Seneca Village Stories: Race, Space, and Freedom on the Edges of Nineteenth-Century New York City”. : Program in American Studies, Trinity College.
Manevitz, A. “Seneca Village: Life and Community at the Edges of Antebellum New York," conference on “Metropolitics”. Metropolitics. : Urban History Association and the University of Pennsylvania.
Manevitz, A. “Permanence and the Construction of Freedom in Seneca Village”. “New Perspectives on Migration and Mobility in the Long Nineteenth Century”. : George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center Emerging Scholars Workshop, Pennsylvania State University.
Manevitz, A. “Central Park Walking Tour”. Historic Sites Seminar. : Department of Museum Studies, New York University.
Manevitz, A. “Seneca Village, Racial Elevation, and the Anxieties of Antebellum New York’s Black Middle Class”. Conference on the Early American Republic. : Early American Republic Seminar, City University of New York.
Manevitz, A. “Race, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Movement,” Panel Chair. Bustle and Stir: Movement and Exchange in Early America. : McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
Manevitz, A. “Creating Handbooks to Promote Excellent Teaching by Graduate Students”. Teaching Development Lunch Program. : Center for the Advancement of Teaching, New York University.
Manevitz, A. Finding Seneca Village in the Archives”. Slavery in Early North America Seminar. : Department of History, University of Richmond.
Manevitz, A. “Remembering Seneca Village as an Urban Alternative”. “Abiding Cities and Remnant Sites”. : Department of Comparative Literature, City University of New York.
Manevitz, A. "Foundations of Seneca Village". Early American Republic Seminar, Department of History, Graduate Center, City University of New York. Graduate Center: City University of New York.
Manevitz, A. “The Physical and Historical Destruction of Seneca Village”. Radical Archives. : Asian/Pacific/American Institute, New York University.
Manevitz, A. “Archival Traces and the Memory of Seneca Village”. Traces of Early America. : McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
Other Scholarly Works
Manevitz, A. (2019). “Seneca Village and Memory” Dialogues on a Future Communications. Dialogues on a Future Communications.
Manevitz, A. (2018). "Seneca Village". Under One Roof: Global Lessons in the Struggle for Democratic Housing, Report for the Right to the City Alliance.
Reviews
Manevitz, A. (1970,January 1). Book review: Melissa Bullard, Brooklyn’s Renaissance: Commerce, Culture, and Community in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World. Journal of the Early Republic.
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty Fellowship Publication Program | CUNY | 2023-11-28 | |
| Bernard and Irene Schwartz Postdoctoral Fellow | New-York Historical Society | 2019-09-03 | |
| Public Humanities Collaborative Faculty Mentor | Center for Hartford Engagement and Research, Trinity College | 2019-07-08 | |
| Faculty Writing Fellowship | 2018-09-03 | ||
| Junior Faculty Research Fellowship | Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Trinity College | 2017-09-04 | |
| Fleischman Endowed New York Travel Fund | 2017-09-04 | ||
| Visiting Research Associate | McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania | 2016-01-25 | |
| Friends of the McNeil Center Fellowship | McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania | 2015-08-31 | |
| Provost's Global Research Initiative Visiting Graduate Fellow | New York University, Washington D.C. | 2014-09-01 | |
| Bessie and George Levy Award for Excellence in American History | Department of History, New York University | 2014-08-30 | |
| Graduate Student Summer Funding | Department of History, New York University | 2014-06-09 | |
| Mellon Foundation Pre-Dissertation Research Grant | Mellon Foundation and the Department of History, New York University | 2012-06-04 | |
| Berger-MacCracken Fellowship | Department of History, New York University | 2010-08-30 |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curriculum Committee, Department of History | Committee Member | Present | |
| History Department Table - Weissman Majors and Minors Fair | Committee Member | Present | |
| Black and Latino Studies | Affiliated Faculty | Present | |
| Robert Friedman Professor, AY 2024-2025 | Committee Chair | 5/23/2025 | |
| Globus Seminar Organizing Committee | Committee Member | 3/28/2024 |
University
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gotham Center for New York City History, Gotham Blog | Contributing Editor | 9/1/2020 | 12/18/2020 |
| Gotham Center for New York City History, Gotham Blog | Associate Editor | 9/2/2019 | 5/22/2020 |
Public
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Envision Seneca Village, Barnard College and Bard College | Project Advisor | New York | United States | 5/22/2024 | Present | National |
| Primus Project: Slavery, Race, and Reconstruction at Trinity College | Committee Member | Connecticut | United States | Present | National | |
| New-York Historical Society, Department of Education | Visiting Scholar and Curriculum Advisor | New York | United States | Present | National | |
| Graduate Teaching Collaborative, New York University | Officer, Other Officer | New York | United States | Present | Local | |
| Ann Petry Book Prize, Program in American Studies, Trinity College | Judge | Connecticut | United States | Present | Local | |
| Atlantic History Workshop, New York University | Program Coordinator | New York | United States | Present | International | |
| New York City History Day, Museum of the City of New York | Judge | New York | United States | Present | Local |