The Man Behind the Vision of Blacks-Only Community

He made history as the founder of the only community in California ever to be run by blacks. He was also the highest-ranking black military officer of his day. But Allen Allensworth’s achievements are largely confined to black history books.

Allensworth was born a slave on April 7, 1842, in Louisville, Ky. At age 12, he was sold by the plantation master for violating a law that prohibited blacks from reading or writing.

After nine more years in slavery, Allensworth escaped behind sympathetic Union lines and became an Army nurse. In 1871, Allensworth, a devout Baptist, was ordained a minister.

Six years later, he married Josephine Leavell, a schoolteacher. Eventually, they had two children.

In 1886, Allensworth was appointed chaplain of the 14th Infantry by President Grover Cleveland. The only black chaplain in the army, he was responsible for the spiritual health and education of black soldiers.

Upon his retirement in 1906 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he began lecturing around the country about the need for Afro-American self-help programs as a means to self-sufficiency.

Around this time Allensworth joined forces with William Payne, a West Virginia schoolteacher. The two decided to form a community where former slaves and their descendants could live free of racial discrimination.

They chose Solito, a train depot near Bakersfield--on the Los Angeles-San Francisco route--and renamed it Allensworth. Under Payne’s and Allensworth’s leadership as members of an association that ran the town, Allensworth flourished.

In 1914, Allensworth was struck and killed by a motorcycle while promoting his community in Los Angeles.