Gary-Summer: Places: CA-Allensworth

Thursday, January 1, 1970

Places: CA-Allensworth

Allensworth-210' (Allensworth) (35.8635651, -119.3890044)
Legal: T24S, R24E, Sec 4 & 9

Description : Trips : References : Pictures

Description:
Named after Colonel Allen Allensworth. He was a slave. Early on he learned to read and write, unusual for a slave because this was not allowed. He escaped and joined the Union Army during the Civil War, the 44th Illinois Volunteers. After the War, he taught and then attended theology school. He became an ordained Baptist minister, serving several churches, until receiving a commission in the United States Army in 1886, attached to the Buffalo Soldiers. He was the first African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. Afterwards, he and his family settled in Los Angeles.

There, Allensworth had a dream of starting a community where Blacks could be self-reliant, free from discrimination, and where education would be important. In 1908, Allensworth with a group of other like-minded men founded a Black financed town in the Central Valley. He wanted the town to be known as the Tuskegee of the West. For more than a summary, see Wikipedia.

In 1976 Allensworth became a state park to preserve and restore the town site. A ranger on site noted most of the buildings have been fully restored. Two there does not seem to be any pictures or descriptions of the buildings, so they have not been rebuilt. It had been a functioning area until the 1950's-there is still people living just south of the park. See Wikipedia for more info.

A good description can be found in the National Archives.

Trips: