Abstract:
Allensworth: Murder in a California Paradise is based on the lives of two slaves who unite to battle for freedom in Kentucky and found a place of peace in California. Lale Scruggs, a “sexual pet,” and Allen Allensworth, a jockey, wed secretly in a stable at Churchill Downs. They escape to the north, join the Union army as medics, and finally settle in the San Joaquin valley. Allensworth today is only an out of the way California State Park, because five years after its founding, Colonel Allensworth was murdered by persons unknown and after his death his wife could not maintain the community alone. A bibliography is included at the end of the text.