Dislocation and eviction weren’t the same for everyone displaced by the construction of Kinzua Dam.

And, in fact, there are many differences between the experiences of the Seneca Nation and the residents of communities in Pennsylvania, such as Corydon and Kinzua.

That’s the message Dr. Randy John brought to a public presentation on Tuesday at the Warren County Courthouse, facilitated by the Warren County Historical Society and held after the Society’s annual meeting.

He spoke about the dislocation of the Seneca Nation a couple of years ago at a similar meeting and, stemming from that meeting, “I met some wonderful people in the communities that were dislocated in Pennsylvania.”

John was invited to reunions held for the former citizens of Kinzua and Corydon.

“Dislocation is a largely untold story,” he said. Through this process, John said he interviewed just less than 20 people and “tried to put together a concept paper of similarities and differences” between the Pennsylvania communities and the Seneca Nation during this period.

“This was really a moving experience for me,” he noted. “The differences are unique compared to the Senecas in some cases” but said many of the differences and similarities are “a matter of degree.”

“One of the major differences was the total loss of community for some of the people who were dislocated” in Pennsylvania, he said. “They had to be part of a new community wherever they may be. They all lost their home community, loss of social support. There are negative ramifications for this.”

John explained that was a difference from the experience of the Senecas because they “didn’t partially disperse across the state or states. Family was still around” on the lands the Seneca Nation was given.

Calling it a “staggering difference,” John spoke about the nature of the evictions and said that he has “not heard any Seneca stories where (a federal official) came into their house and said they had to leave with a gun in a holster and their hand on it. I heard it more than once (and) heard different people tell the same story.”

“To me, that’s a big difference,” he said, calling the story “eye-opening” and “shocking.”

But the issue was political.

“I call it political prejudice,” John explained. “Among the Senecas, we were united. (I) was kind of shocked to learn some of the (Pennsylvania) communities that weren’t dislocated supported the idea” of the dam.

“To me it jumped out as a major difference because it was different communities,” John said. “This is a complexity of human groups.” He said that some of the people he interviewed painted pictures of media portraying people as “selfish” that fought construction of the dam.

“Pennsylvania communities didn’t have external (forces) lobbying for their cause didn’t have movie stars didn’t have (an) institution or order lobbying for the Pennsylvania communities,” he said.

Another difference is the manner in which the federal government obtained the land.

“The Pennsylvanians were evicted (because of) eminent domain,” John said. “The Senecas actually weren’t.” John said Seneca land was taken as a result of an easement, adding, “(The) federal government negotiated with the Seneca Nation as a people. Pennsylvanians, they dealt with them as individual land owners.”

And while the Senecas were given land as part of the reservation, citizens of towns in Pennsylvania were not given the same access to new lands.

“There was no plan for new land for the lost communities,” John said, noting that many of the interviewees indicated the money that was paid for their land was not enough to replace what they had with comparable value.

John also discovered many similarities in the experience of the Pennsylvania communities and the Seneca Nation.

“The major informal support decreased,” he said. “It had to because the community was destroyed.” He noted that Senecas and Pennsylvanians co-existed in many of these communities.

“Many had an ‘us vs. the world’ outlook. There was protests, sabotaging of construction companies equipment. Senecas did the same thing. It was an expression of community for the pain of loss and that happened among the Pennsylvania communities as well.”

“The termination of these communities occurred against their will” for both groups, John said. “The Pennsylvania communities were like our Seneca clans and that is a wonderful thing.”