The 100th Year anniversary of the town Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth founded in 1908, will be celebrated this year in Oakland, CA.

The town of Allensworth, California was named for Lt. Col. Allen Allensworth, a former slave who became the highest-ranking African-American in the U.S. Army.

Born into a Kentucky slave family in 1842, he was sold for trying to learn to read and write and eventually escaped slavery by joining the Union Army. He then served in the U.S. Navy from 1863 to 1867. Col. Allenworth, was honorably discharged as a petty officer, first class.

His dream of a self-sufficient, all-black California town was realized in 1908, when he and colleague William Payne bought 800 acres in the Central Valley

Allensworth died in 1914 (hit by a motorcycle), after his death the town population declined until it was abandoned, then in 1976 it was reclaimed as a state park.

Celebration story at http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_10227868
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Allensworth