Allensworth, which is 30 miles north of Bakersfield, Calif., had a schoolhouse and California’s first Black school district prior to the town’s decline. The productive and progressive town also boasted a Baptist church, a judicial district, a glee club, a hotel, sewing and social circles, and a library that became a part of the county’s free library system. Many of the streets were named after Black luminaries including poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.