Although a small, dusty town where residents constantly battled heat and drought may seem an unlikely setting for a heroic effort at colony building and racial self-determination, this community of ‘race pioneers, with its commitment to limiting the parameters of prejudice, served as a beacon of hope to blacks in the Golden State and across the nation. The community, Allensworth, belied the notion of African-American inferiority and, in so doing, generated excitement, hope and confidence. As soon as our race gets property in the form of real estate, of intelligence, of high Christian character, it will find that it is going to receive the recognition which it has not thus far received, said Colonel Allen Allensworth, the community’s founder. This town and its founder deserve a kinder fate than relegation to a historical footnote.

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For blacks in California, the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th was a nadir: the U.S. Supreme court anointed racism’s handmaiden, segregation, as the law of the land; a form of economic bondage known as share-cropping re-enslaved the mass of southern blacks as well as poor whites, and the black community’s leadership was splintered by the acrimony between W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. It was this atmosphere of uncertainty and discrimination that encouraged five gentlemanly looking Negro men (so described by the Delano Holograph on June 13, 1908) to work toward the creation of a race colony in California.

Guiding his venture were the fervor and dreams of Allen Allensworth. Although born into slavery in Louisville, Ky., in April 1842, Allensworth refused to submit to that degrading institution.

During his youth, despite laws forbidding the education of slaves, Allensworth mastered reading and writing, whetting his lifelong appetite for learning. After two unsuccessful escape attempts, he finally succeeded during the initial years of the Civil War. Recognizing the importance of that struggle, Allensworth wanted to participate.

For several months in 1862, the former slave worked as a civilian aide to the 44th Illinois volunteer Infantry. But this service did not satisfy Allensworth. On April 3, 1863, he became a seaman, first class, of the Union Navy. During the remaining years of the civil war, he served on gunboats such as the Queen City and Pittsburg. He left the navy in April 1865 with the rank of first class petty officer.

During Reconstruction, Allensworth underwent a religious conversion and decided to study theology at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tenn. While at the university, he met and later married Josephine Leavell. After completing his studies, Allensworth maintained several pulpits in and around his native Louisville. Allensworth’s success as a minister propelled him into politics, says Stanleigh Bry, library director for the Society of California Pioneers. He was one of Kentucky’s delegates to the Republic National convention in 1880 and 1884.

It was in 1882, however, that a black soldier came to Allensworth for help, complaining about the lack of black chaplains in the all-black military units. The soldier urged Allensworth to help recruit blacks to fill those positions. Allensworth did more than recruit, Bry says. He decided to become a chaplain himself. Reportedly, Allensworth hoped that as a chaplain, he could improve the lot of the average black soldier, help the race in its battle to win support and, at the same time, provide a secure future for his family. Thus motivated, Allensworth launched a concerted effort to gain appointment to the 24th Infantry (colored) in 1884.

First, Allensworth solicited testimonials and letters of support from a myriad of major and minor southern politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike. Then he drafted letters to President Grover Cleveland and to the Office of the Adjutant General. In these missives, Allensworth crafted a persuasive argument. He reasoned to Cleveland that by appointing a black chaplain, the president could strengthen [his] administration among the colored people, particularly in the South. He also stated that he could be of service in securing good discipline and gentlemanly conduct among the soldiers.

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