The Little-Known History of California’s Only Black-Founded Town

Allensworth, California | Wayne Hsieh/Flickr

“To seek out America’s Black history is to unwittingly assume the role of archeologist and detective—so many of our stories have been buried or tossed aside, waiting for a patient explorer to unearth them. Such is the case with America’s Black-founded towns, which sprang up in the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, a product of America’s brief and since-defaulted commitment to provide security for the formerly enslaved. During those fleeting years—before Jim Crow, redlining, and similar codified measures took hold—newly freed Black citizens set off to make good on the long-promised American Dream, planting their flags in undeveloped plots and offering safehavens where race-based discrimination and violence didn’t exist.”

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