Allensworth Black History Month Celebration

THE TOWN OF ALLENSWORTH

Retirement found the Colonel lecturing throughout the eastern and mid-western states promoting Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of African American self-reliance. They both firmly believed that through education and hard work African Americans could rise above the effects of slavery, attain greater social stature, and more fully realize their potential as a people.

The Allensworths settled in Los Angeles, and in 1906 Colonel Allensworth met Professor William Payne, an educator whose family had recently moved to Pasadena. With a mutual desire to live in an environment where African Americans could live free from discrimination, they merged their values with those of other pioneers of like mind to establish an independent, self-sufficient colony. They formed the California Colony and Home Promoting Association in 1908 and purchased 800 acres along the Santa Fe rail line from the Pacific Farming Company, at a railway stop called Solita. In 1909, the colony of Allensworth began to rise from the flat countryside. The name and reputation of Colonel Allensworth inspired African Americans who were looking for a better life. People from all over the country, including many who settled in California, came to populate the town.

By 1910, residents had built a small school. Two years later, Allensworth became California’s first African American school district, and in 1914 the town became a judicial district. When rapid growth necessitated the construction of a larger two-room school, Josephine Allensworth turned the former school building into the Mary Dickinson Memorial Library in honor of her mother.