By the Bakersfield Californian
Colonel Allen Allensworth was an Army chaplain, educator, and orator who, in 1908, founded Allensworth, just north of Bakersfield in Tulare County.The town was the first in the state founded, funded, and governed by African Americans.
Allensworth grew big enough that the town had to build a second school to accommodate all the children in the town, who were taught by African American teachers. The original, smaller school was turned in the Mary Dickinson Memorial Library, named in honor of the mother of Josephine Allensworth, the founder's wife.
Recently, students from Golden Valley High School, as part of the Police Activities League (PAL), made a visit to Allenworth State Park as part of Black History Month. Students visited Historical displays, listened to presentations and visited with some ancestors of the original inhabitants of the town.
