
Restored/Access
- Publisher
- Sming Sming Books
- Year
- 2022
- Specifications
- softcover
7 x 10 in
88 pages
spiral bound
Edition of 300
Design by Sming Sming Books
Texts by Keko Jackson and Matthew Grumbach
Allensworth is the first town in California to be founded, financed, and governed exclusively by Black people. Founded in 1908 as a symbol of freedom in the West, it is part of a long legacy of independent and autonomous communities created by revolutionaries and people who escaped enslavement. The town was started by Allen Allensworth, who was himself born into enslavement, and saw the land as an opportunity to live out a version of the American Dream. In its early years Allensworth saw a lot of success and self-sufficiency, establishing a free public library, access to inexpensive land and resources and a system of cooperative economics. However by 1915, a variety of causes including severe drought, racially motivated attacks, and the discovery of arsenic in the ground water ultimately led to the town's decline. Today, Allensworth remains a state park which attempts to preserve the unique history of the land. By combining his own images with archival materials found at his uncle's house, Keko Jackson brings together visual narratives both past and present to illustrate the evolution of a town that once meant so much to so many.