A mountain that once stirred controversy for its name has been renamed in honor of a black pioneer.
California’s Negrohead Mountain has been renamed Ballard Mountain in honor of John Ballard, a former slave and blacksmith that bought land on the mountain in the 1800s.
Descendants of Ballard attended the renaming ceremony Saturday as a plaque with Ballard’s name and historical information was placed near the peak.
Speaking on the long overdue name change, Ballard’s 85-year-old great-grandson Reggie Ballard told the Los Angeles Times,
“I don’t know what it means to Los Angeles as a whole, but it means a lot to me.”
This is the second name change for Negrohead, it was previously called Ni**erhead Mountain before being renamed in the 1960s.
I think Ballard Mountain is much more fitting, I wouldn’t be caught dead on Ni**erhead.
