Ellen of Allensworth

It's 1913 in Oakland, California, and eight-year-old Ellen Jackson has white classmates who bully her and a teacher who believes Black children can't learn. Ellen's mother decides to move the family to Allensworth, the only town in California where Blacks own their own property and govern themselves, free of prejudice.

Oakland is a bustling city with in-door plumbing and gas while in rural Allensworth, Ellen has to lug water from a community well and use the backyard outhouse. But the commun...