Col. Allen Allensworth #1228

$ 10.00

Caption from poster__

On August 3rd, 1908, Colonel Allen Allensworth filed the site plan
to start a town in California's San Joaquin Valley. He was born a
slave in 1842 in Louisville, Kentucky, and went on to serve in the
military. He eventually moved to California, where he purchased
800 acres in Tulare County, along the Santa Fe rail line. The town
of Allensworth became the first in California to be founded and
funded solely by African-Americans.

In 1909, American Civil War Union Army veteran Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth sought to build a town with the ideal that African Americans could own property, learn, thrive, and live the American Dream. With his friend William Payne, they chose a Tulare County site for a new town near the present location of Earlimart, California and about 45 driving miles north of Bakersfield. The site was chosen for fertile soil, adequate water, and its location along a railroad corridor. Allensworth reportedly had a strong moral compass and one of the first buildings erected was the town church. It was the first California town to be governed by African Americans. In interviews, residents described the town as the ideal American small town: a thriving and positive place.