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In 1908, Colonel Allen Allensworth founded a small town in the dry alkaline soil of California's Central Valley. A high ranking U.S. Army officer and chaplain who had escaped from slavery, he envisioned a utopian community where African Americans could thrive. The town flourished between 1908 and 1918, when some three hundred families relocated there to establish a self-sufficient farming community with its own school, church, businesses, and municipal government. Its existence became and is to this day a symbol and an inspiration to African Americans around the country. In 1976. Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park was created to restore the buildings and preserve the history of this exceptional community.

Both my grandmother and mother are credited for nurturing my artistic beginnings. I was always inspired by their nods of approval when shown my pencil drawings of comic characters from the newspaper, or the fruit on the kitchen table. As always, I could hardly wait to start another drawing and see their sweet smiles and hear their kind words of approval. After winning 2nd place in a school wide art competition at Golden Gate grammar school in San Francisco, it was on. After my completion of honorable service with the 11th Air Assault Division, U.S. Army, Infantry in 1965, my childhood quest for artistic expression begin to materialize in earnest a few years later. Exhibitions have been many and rewards have been welcome. Most of...