Early on the morning of February 8th, ten private
airplanes from throughout California; Hayward, Watsonville, Compton, Whiteman,
Cable, and Hawthorne will descend on the Delano Municipal Airport.They will receive a short safety briefing and
pre-flight review then remount their planes and taxi to runway 32. After receiving clearance from the tower they
will takeoff one after the other and head north.
Upon receiving the signal from the ground crew, the pilots
will turn south, then lineup in a formation. The lead pilot gives the command “Tighten
Up, Straighten Up and Fly Right” and the formation drops down to 1,000 ft as
they fly over the Black History Month celebration at Colonel Allensworth State
Historic Park.
The pilots are members of the California Red Tails, one of
fourteen Black Pilots of America chapters. The Black Pilots of America is a
non-profit flying organization that encourages under privileged youth to enter
the field of aviation. The California Red Tails are named after 332nd
fighter group, the African American fighter pilots that escorted bombers during
World War Two. They are better known as the Tuskegee Airmen because they were trained
at Tuskegee, Alabama.
The campground at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is
named after Tuskegee Airmen Lieutenant Colonel John "Mr. Death" L.
Whitehead, Jr.,who served in World War
Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Come join the Friends of Allensworth and the staff of
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park as we celebrate Black History Month on
Saturday, February 8, 2014. Come out and enjoy docent led tours of the town’s
historic homes and businesses, purchase food and crafts from the vendors, watch
“Allensworth: A Piece of the World” a video that retells the story of Colonel
Allen Allensworth and the town he founded.
Sites are still available at the campground, to reserve your campsite go to the
Reserve America website or call 1-800-444-7275.
When: Saturday, February 8, 2014
Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: Colonel Allensworth
State Historic Park
This
year’s national Black History Month theme “Civil Rights In America” is a
tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
After years of sit-ins, boycotts, marches,
and freedom rides into the heart of the deep South.
After the murder of civil rights workers Medger Evers and
William L. Moore, and the death of Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole
Robertson and Denise McNair, the four young girls killed in the bombing of the
16th Street Baptist Church.
After the U.S. Senate debated for 83 days, over 730 hours,
and almost 3,000 pages in the Congressional Record, on July 2, 1964 President
Johnson spoke the following word during a nationwide television broadcast from
the White House:
We believe that all men are created
equal -- yet many are denied equal
treatment…. The reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition and
the nature of man. We can understand without rancor or hatred how all this
happens. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our
Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids
it. And the law I sign tonight forbids it....
The 1964 Civil Rights Act barred unequal application of
voter registration requirements, outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels,
restaurants, theaters, encouraged
the desegregation of public schools, and outlawed discrimination in employment
in any business exceeding twenty five people.
Come join us as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act
President Obama signs a declaration to declare Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, as a national monument on November 1, 2011.
2011 marks the beginning of the sesquicentennial of the war that pitted brother against brother. Over the next four years in museums and university lecture halls, at conferences, and on battlefields across America the Sesquicentennial of War Between the States will be commemorated.
The role of African Americans in the Civil War is not going unnoticed. The 2011 National Black History Month theme was “African Americans and the Civil War.” This was also the focus of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s (ASALH) 85th Annual Black History Luncheon. (The ASALH was started by Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History.) In July the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum held its Grand Opening and is hosting a curator lecture series throughout the year. The U. S. National Library of Medicine put together a six-banner traveling exhibition titled “Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine” that explores the African American men and women who served as surgeons and nurses during the American Civil War. The Contraband Historical Society called their two day sesquicentennial celebration “Escape for Freedom: From Slave to Contraband.” The two day event at Fort Monroe, where Union Major General Benjamin Butler decided that escaped slaves were “contraband of war”, featured a conference, parade, and re-enactors.
It was in October of 1862 that a young enslaved Allen Allensworth threw on an old tattered Union Army jacket, put a small campfire pot on his head, covered his face in mud then marched down Main Street with the soldiers of the Forty-fourth Illinois; thus becoming “contraband of war.” Allensworth would spend his first days of freedom as a nurse with the Forty-fourth Illinois.
On April 3, 1863 Allensworth enlisted in the Navy, becoming one of over 20,000 African Americans who served in the Union Navy. Unlike the African Americans that served in special units in the Union Army, these brave men serviced side by side on the same vessels as white sailors.
On November 4, 1864 Allensworth was serving as the captain’s steward on the gunboat Tawah as it patrolled up and down the Tennessee River protecting the Union Army supply depot at Johnsonville, Tennessee when Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s artillery forces opened fire. After several hours of fighting the Tawah, Key West and Elfin gunboats were all badly damaged. Rather than letting the gunboats fall into Confederate hands the crews set the gunboats on fire.
Severe winds caused the fire to jump to supplies stored on the riverbank then to a supply depot warehouse. Confederate artillery forces began firing on the supply depot, causing the Union soldiers to take cover rather than fight the fires.
After two years of service Allensworth was honorably discharged from the Navy as a Petty Officer First Class.
On December 30, 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned Allensworth as a Major; one of the first two Army chaplains to be promoted to the rank of Major. In 1882 Congress passed a law that permitted veterans of the Civil War to be promoted one rank on retirement from the Army. As a result Chaplain Allensworth was placed on the retired list of the Army with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, at the time the highest rank obtained by an African American.
Please join the Friends of Allensworth and the California Department of Parks and Recreation as we celebrate Black History Month at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park on Saturday, February 12, 2011. This is our first major event for 2011, for a list of other events scheduled for this year visit our calendar of events.
The focus of the Black History Month program is to provide activities for school age children that are both entertaining and educational while emphasizing the accomplishments of our African American ancestors. Docents will be on site to give tours of the town’s two room school house, Col Allensworth’s home, the Hindsman General store, the hotel, and the other historic homes and businesses in this self governed all Black town. In addition to the activities and tours, the video “Allensworth: A Piece of the World” will be playing in the visitor center.
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Sites are still available at the campground, to reserve your campsite go to the Reserve America website or call 1-800-444-7275.
For more information about the Black History Program or the Friends of Allensworth contact Thomas Stratton at tomten@pacbell.net.
Now you can make your reservations for the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park campground and help the California State Parks Foundation at the same time. The California State Parks Foundation has partnered with The Active Network, EveryTrail, and Travelcity Partner Network to create the new California State Parks Foundation Travel Center. For each reservation made through the travel center the California State Parks Foundation receives 50 cent. California State Parks Foundation members will also get up to 10 percent off of their camping reservation.
At the California State Parks Foundation travel center you can:
• Download trail guides for different state parks
• Reserve rental cars
• Book flights
• Make hotel reservations
To receive your member discount and for the California State Parks Foundation to earn 50 cent you have to go to http://www.calparks.org/travel/.
Take a few minutes now to bookmark the California State Parks Foundation travel center, even better reserve one of the parks 115 campsites for the Friends of Allensworth Black History Month program in February or Colonel Allen Allensworth’s birthday celebration in April.
The sun shined on this event from 10:00 a.m. until late afternoon. The attendance was all cars and trains, on the last weekend of the month. The volunteers and the rangers provided walking tours of the buildings. All who were able to attend had a great time with the personal touch of the various walking tours.
The next event at the park will be the May Old Time Jubilee on May 15, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. Until 4:00 p.m. Remember there are other events at the park, and you can schedule a visit to the park, or a family gathering.
Call 661-849-4012 for more information.
Susie Smith
Docent/Volunteer Coordinator
Fremont Chapter of the Friends of Allensworth
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park Interpreter Steven Ptomey appears on KMPH FOX 26’s the Great Day news and entertainment show with Kopi Sotiropulos and Kim Stephens. This show is part of their 2010 Black History Month series.
Please join the Friends of Allensworth and the California Department of Parks and Recreation as we celebrate Black History Month at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park on Saturday, February 13 & 27, 2010. This is our first major event for 2010, for a list of other events scheduled for this year visit our calendar of events.
The focus of the Black History Month program is to provide activities for school age children that are both entertaining and educational while emphasizing the accomplishments of our African American ancestors. Docents will be on site to give tours of the town’s two room school house, Col Allensworth’s home, the Hindsman General store, the hotel, and the other historic homes and businesses in this self governed all Black town. In addition to the activities and tours, the video “Allensworth: A Piece of the World” will be playing in the visitor center.
Date: Saturday, February 13 & 27, 2010
Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cost: Private Vehicles: $6.00
Buses:
10-24 passengers $50.00
25 or more passengers $100.00
For more information about the Black History Program or the Friends of Allensworth contact Thomas Stratton at tomten@pacbell.net.
Directions
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The Friends of Allensworth is a volunteer association dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of Colonel Allen Allensworth and the town of Allensworth, California. We are organized as a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation. The town of Allensworth is very unique in that it is the only California town to be founded, financed and govern by African Americans. Founded in 1908, the town is located 75 miles south of Fresno and 38 miles north of Bakersfield. The town of Allensworth is now preserved as Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, part of the California Department of Parks and Recreation System.
