Allensworth

Barack Obama speaks on Nattie Morrison’s television. The original Allensworth was an experiment in self-determination started for blacks by retired Army chaplain Col. Allen Allensworth.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A 73-year-old widow and mother of five, Nettie Morrison reviews documents pertaining to the community center during a routinely busy morning catching up on the towns goings on. In the background is grandson Adrien.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Piles of junk litter the landscape in Allensworth. In Nettie Morrison’s mind, such conditions mock the original vision of a refined, bucolic community.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

There is no commercial enterprise in town, no mini-mart, no gas station, no bank. To shop for groceries requires a drive to larger farm towns five or 10 miles away. Some roads are paved. Others are not.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Some of the junk that is common in Allensworth.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Isaiah Harrison, 11, center, pledges his allegiance to the flag with classmates, Damaris Roque, 10, foreground, and Antonio Bobadilla, 9. The town, founded as a utopia for African Americans, is now mostly Latino.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Sixth-grade teacher Molly Cloer works with Antonio Bobadilla. Allensworth has some 500 residents.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

The original schoolhouse at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is one of a few original buildings. Others are replicas, re-created in accordance with the lone panoramic photograph of the colony still in existence.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

The original flag that draped the coffin of Col. Allen Allensworth can be found in the state park.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Desks are lined up in the original 1910 schoolhouse at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

At the Allensworth cemetery south of town, this grave is marked, but most are by now anonymous, bearing only rough wooden crosses. Some have been plowed under, others attacked by scavengers, both human and animal.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

The sun sets on Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)