A heightened profile for one of L.A.'s black pioneers

Negrohead Mountain is an unlikely memorial to a former slave who made a name for himself at the western end of Los Angeles County.

More than 120 years ago, pioneers in the Santa Monica Mountains named the peak for John Ballard, the first black man to settle in the hills above Malibu.

Today, authorities will take the first step toward what they consider a more fitting tribute by renaming the 2,031-foot volcanic peak Ballard Mountain.

The name now used by the U.S. Geological Survey is a refinement of the slur then used by pioneers when referring to Ballard -- a well-known blacksmith and teamster who put down roots on 320 acres near what is now the community of Seminole Hot Springs.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mountain24-2009feb24,0,2554745.story