Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park Photo Book

Posted: February 18th, 2010

The City Project celebrates Black History Month

The City Project is proud to present the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park Photo Book

The Park commemorates Colonel Allen Allensworth and the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. Colonel Allensworth, born a slave, served in the Army and Navy and retired as a lieutenant colonel, the highest ranking black in the armed forces. The Colonel founded Allensworth in 1908 as a way for blacks to become self-sufficient.

The Park is a best practice example of a public monument celebrating diversity, democracy and freedom. Only 76 out of 900 official cultural and historical monuments pertain to women, people of color, or Native Americans in the City of Los Angeles, for example. The California Department of Parks and Recreation has published a study addressing the public’s need to become more aware of California’s cultural diversity and its tangible manifestations on the land. See Five Views: An Ethnic Sites Survey for California (1988). The National Park Service has undertaken a Cultural Heritage Needs Assessment to gain a better understanding of minority cultures and what the federal government could do to address this heritage. Ned Kaufman, Cultural Heritage Needs Assessment: Phase I (April 8, 2004). We hope Colonel Allensworth Park and Photo Book will engage readers on the need for public monuments that reflect diversity, democracy and freedom.

The book is available on the web under a Creative Commons royalty-free license for non-commercial purposes through Blurb.

View images of Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park on The City Project’s flickr gallery.

Learn more about the Monuments, Diversity, and Democracy campaign.

View the Administrative Complaint to Keep State Parks Open for All!