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2012
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So here's the story: During the 1850s Kentucky-born John Ballard moved to Agoura [28] in the Santa Monica Mountains and set up house and trade. He and his family joined the 60 other black residents of Los Angeles County which, then, only had a population of 4000. Without question Ballard was a L.A. pioneer. He survived the spiritually and physically challenging institution of slavery, traveled across the country by wagon, purchased land overlooking Malibu, founded the town's first African Methodist Episcopal church, and made a few coins blacksmithing and selling lumber. Like my dad, I relish in stories of black men who triumph against every odd imaginable. And this one's a beaut.
The story continues: The arrival of the railroad upped property values and newly-arriving white settlers wanted Ballard and his family out. [You don't say!] They burned his house and harrassed him day and night until he finally moved 50 miles away and purchased 300-plus acres. The new settlers named the area Nigger-head Mountain in his honor [or in honor of their racist victory]. And Nigger-head is what appears on all government documents. But in the 1960s some embarrased [or progressive] official decided Negro-head would be a bit more appropriate lest the Black Panthers come up from the city and demand some explanation. [I'm kidding, of course, but who knows]. Now the county officials have made some new demands: the area should be renamed John Ballard Mountain, you know, because that's the name of the man who pioneered it.
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