Sown into the fertile loam of the Central Valley some 70 miles south of Fresno, lies the historic town of Allensworth, perched amid the intersection of three.
In 1908, Allensworth was designed by its Black founders as a place where 'African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose' before racist policies squashed it into submission. More than a century later, the town is one of about a dozen Black communities shaping the conversation about what reparations might mean in California.
Just 45 minutes north of Bakersfield, lies the historic town of Allensworth. It is known as California’s first Black settlement, built by Colonel Allensworth himself. It had a school, a church, a bank, and so much more.