Clarksdale Press Register clipping

In his memoirs, county historian H. K. Sage wrote that "George Chatters and William H. Allen were the most prominent Negroes in the county" during the Reconstruction era. He described both as "above the average in general information and men who had the respect of both races in but few exceptions."

Allen functioned as a magistrate for a number of years, and he served in the Mississippi Legislature in 1884 and 1886.