Past exhibits

Allensworth: 100 years of the california dream

May 15 - October 5, 2008

Allensworth has been called a “monument to a dream”. The settlement, founded in 1908 by Col. Allen Allensworth, Prof. William Payne, minister Dr. W.H. Peck, miner J.W. Palmer and real estate agent Harry Mitchel through the California Colony and Home Promoting Association, did represent the dream of its namesake, “to show the world that the Negro can DO and BE everything that is expected of an intelligent citizenship.” It also symbolized the dream of African Americans across California and the U.S. for civic opportunity, the chance to create an ideal social enterprise free from the restrictions imposed during this troublesome period considered “the nadir” of race relations in America.

The exhibition celebrating the centennial of Allensworth is a collaboration with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the California African American Museum and the California Community Empowerment Foundation.

sampling of works Presented