“Food grows where water flows” is a common phrase in California’s Central Valley, but it hits particularly close to home in Allensworth — the state’s first town founded, funded and governed by Black Americans.
Tucked away a half-hour from Bakersfield, unbeknownst to many, a California Historic Park commemorates life in the unique community, which began when Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth and a group of enterprising men sought to create a town where Black residents could prosper free from racist ideologies.
The area was one of many Black townships set up across the nation at the turn of the 20th century. But Allensworth, a former slave who served in the Union Army, and was its highest ranking Black officer, died before his dream of building a “Tuskegee of the West” could be realized.
Until it was ruined by a series of decisions that historians argue were racially motivated, the town spanned 2,700 acres, complete with the first free-circulation library in Tulare County and a two-room schoolhouse built in 1912.
Historic buildings are scattered today across 240 acres at the site of the former town center. They remain furnished to reflect the time period and Allensworth’s pioneering efforts in Black self-determination.
Off in the distance, beyond the gates of the park, dogs run free in a community without sidewalks, past a collection of trailers and rundown shacks that house the few remaining Black residents and farmhands who still call the area home.
Fortunately for those inhabiting the rural area, a pair of nonprofits — Friends of Allensworth and the Allensworth Progressive Assn. — are now working with residents to continue the colonel’s quest for empowerment by developing agricultural academies and sustaining a farm that could one day serve as an economic engine for the region.
“Martin Luther King wasn’t the only dreamer,” said Sasha Briscoe, a resident of Bakersfield and president of Friends of Allensworth, which…