Allensworth: A Piece Of The World

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CREDIT:

California State Parks
DVD: http://bit.ly/1IiYDEb​
Producer: James Kelty & Associates, Inc.
Narrated By: Danny Glover

DESCRIPTION:

Visit Allensworth, the only California town to be founded, financed, and governed by Black Americans. Allensworth was established in 1908 and is now a part of California State Parks. The community was founded so Black men and women could control their own destiny. "The men worked at pioneering and the women made pioneering work." Today the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, the people, homes and history of this one of a kind historic park! It is maintained by Steve Ptomey ([email protected]), the State Park Interpreter and Supervisor of California State Historical Parks. You may contact park staff at: [email protected] or visit: http://bit.ly/1EC2Ekp​.

COLONEL ALLENSWORTH:

Allen Allensworth (April 7th, 1842 - September 14th, 1914), born into slavery, escaped and became a Union soldier; later he became a Baptist minister and educator, and was appointed as a chaplain in the United States Army. He was the first African American to reach the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He planted numerous churches, and in 1908 founded Allensworth, California, the only town in the state to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans.

During the American Civil War, he escaped by joining the 44th Illinois Volunteers and later served two years in the Navy. After being ordained as a minister, he worked as a teacher, studied theology and led several churches. In 1880 and 1884, he served as the only black delegate from Kentucky in the Republican National Conventions. In 1886 he gained an appointment as a military chaplain to a unit of Buffalo Soldiers and served in the US Army for 20 years, retiring in 1906.

In addition to his work in developing churches, he was notable for founding the township of Allensworth, California in 1908; it was intended as an all-black community. Although environmental conditions inhibited its success as a farming community and the residents abandoned it after a few generations, much of the former town has been preserved as the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. It marks the founders' dream and the thriving community that developed for some time.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:

2 Chronicles 7:14​ (ESV)

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."