Allen Allensworth

Military leader and educator

• Born: April 7, 1842
• Birthplace: Louisville, Kentucky
• Died: September 14, 1914
• Place of death: Monrovia, California

Allensworth is known for founding the all-black town of Allensworth, California, in 1908 and being the U.S. military’s first African American lieutenant colonel.

Early Life

Allen Allensworth, born a slave, was the son of Levi and Phyllis Allensworth. When Allensworth was a young boy, Levi died after unsuccessful attempts to buy his and his family’s freedom. Allensworth’s mother named him after Bishop Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Although it was against the law for African Americans to learn to read and write, she made sure that her son learned. She encouraged Allensworth to ask her master’s young son, Thomas, to play school every afternoon.

By the age of thirteen, Allensworth had already had multiple owners and had been sold “down river,” where he made his first unsuccessful attempt at escaping slavery. He was captured by a notorious slave hunter and taken back to his master. After another escape, he was caught again and sold at a slave market for $960 to a horse-racer, Fred Scruggs, who found Allensworth’s reading ability useful. Scruggs trained Allensworth as a jockey. Allensworth was sold many more times before he permanently escaped slavery by joining the Forty-fourth Illinois Hospital Corps as a nurse.

Life’s Work

In April, 1863, Allensworth joined the U.S. Navy as a seaman first class. After advancing to the position of captain’s steward and petty officer first class, he received an honorable discharge in April, 1865. He and his brother, William, became owner-operators of two restaurants. Despite his success, however, Allensworth yearned to improve his education and serve others through the ministry.

After the Civil War, Allensworth was ordained on April 9, 1871, and worked as a traveling minister for the First District Baptist Association. He also studied at the Baptist Theological Institute at Nashville with the assistance of a fellowship from the Judson Missionary Society of the Second Baptist Church located in Ohio. In 1880 and 1884, Allensworth was elected to represent the Third Congressional District of Kentucky at the Republican National Convention.

On September 20, 1877, Allensworth married Josephine Leavell. They had two daughters, Nella and Eva, and Allensworth moved the family to Cincinnati, Ohio. In April, 1886, while serving as pastor at Union Baptist Church in Ohio, Allensworth was nominated and confirmed as chaplain of the Twenty-fourth Infantry with the rank of captain.

Allensworth was deeply inspired by Booker T. Washington’s teachings of accountability and resilience. For the rest of his life, he lectured to African Americans about self-help and agency.

While in Monrovia, California, in 1914 to give a sermon, he stepped off a streetcar and was killed by a speeding motorcycle. He was seventy-two years old.

Significance

Allensworth spent several years of his life as a traveling lecturer. Two of his most famous lectures were “The Battle of Life and How to Fight It” and “The Five Manly Virtues.” He also wrote a number of teaching and training manuals for military and civilian schools, and scholarly papers, including one titled “Social Status and Race.”

Aside from being the first black man to be granted the rank of lieutenant colonel and an accomplished Army recruiter and chaplain, Allensworth is best known as the cofounder of the all-black town of Allensworth, California. In August, 1908, Allensworth and his friend William Payne bought land in California’s San Joaquin Valley from the Pacific Farming Company. In 1909, they founded the town of Allensworth. The town’s popularity grew quickly because of its abundant water, farmland, and proximity to the railroad. In Allensworth, everything was grown, owned, and operated by African Americans, including the schools, stores, a hotel, post office, library, homes, farms, and livestock.

Environmental challenges and its founder’s death led to the town’s eventual decline. In 1974, the state of California purchased land in Allensworth, and in 1976 it created Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.

Bibliography

Alexander, Charles. Battles and Victories of Allen Allensworth. Boston: Sherman, French & Company, 1914. Chronicles Allensworth’s life (with help from Allensworth himself) from his youth as a slave to his military career and civilian life.

McBroome, Delores Nason. “Harvest of Gold: African American Boosterism, Agriculture, and Investment in Allensworth and Little Liberia.” In Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California, edited by Lawrence de Graaf et al. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. Highlights from Allensworth’s life as a teacher, in the military, and in Allensworth.

Parker, Adam. “Allen Allensworth: Town Founder.” In African Americans in California, edited by Adam Parker. Fremont, Calif.: Toucan Valley, 2000. Examines Allensworth’s legacy and life as a slave, a colonel, and a town founder.

Radcliffe, Evelyn. Out of Darkness: The Story of Allen Allensworth. Menlo Park, Calif.: Inkling Press, 1995. This concise, illustrated volume pays tribute to Allensworth’s accomplishments.

Royal, Alice C., Mickey Ellinger, and Scott Braley. Allensworth, the Freedom Colony: A California African American Township. Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Institute, 2008. A complete history of the Allensworth Township. Illustrated.