Ballard Mountain
Justice reaches new heights, “Negrohead Mountain” officially renamed “Ballard Mountain”
A peak formerly known as “Negrohead Mountain” was recently officially renamed “Ballard Mountain,” for John Ballard, a former slave from Kentucky who lived nearby.
“I’m pleased to see the right thing done by the powers that be,” said Ballard’s great-grandson, Reggie Ballard. “Our family is overwhelmed with excitement,” he added.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Board on Geographic Names approved the change last year, after a request from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. This request was a result of lobbying from local residents who live just below the 2,031-foot peak in the Santa Monica Mountains. Ballard said he was shocked to find that the lobbyists were White.
“They were just as excited as anyone else, “Ballard remarked, adding that one of the participants couldn’t contain himself. “He told me that this was the best thing to ever happen to him . . . imagine that.”
Of course, sentiments haven’t always been this way. Moorpark College history professor, Patty Colman, recently published research revealing that White locals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had used “Negrohead” to insult Ballard (John), who moved into the area, after initially settling in Los Angeles where he co-founded the city’s first African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Historians believe that Ballard and his family were fleeing growing segregationist polices when they re-settled at the base of the mass on a 160-acre homestead near what is now, Seminole Hot Springs.
Many people, including several of Ballard’s descendants, attended the renaming ceremony at this site. A permanent plaque with Ballard’s name and story is expected to be placed near the top of the peak.
TORRANCE, Calif. — The Torrance Police Department announced today that it has three suspects in custody who are believed to have been involved in credit card fraud victimizing 37 people from San Diego to Simi Valley.
The investigation began on Sept. 17, after a Torrance resident living in the 17500 block of Emanita Avenue was fraudulently billed for a delivery to a FedEx office at 21023 Hawthorne Boulevard.
Surveillance video allegedly showed a suspect picking up a package.
Carter G. Woodson’s initial 1926 “Negro History Week” included both the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. But even the now-expanded monthlong commemoration is too short to contain all the exciting goings-on. Case in point—the Pan African Film Festival.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The city’s police, fire and other departments are all in danger of being subjected to hefty budget cuts in response to voters’ rejection of a proposed half-cent sales tax, the president of the City Council said today.
Councilman Herb Wesson said that without the tax, things are “going to get ugly” for the police and other city departments.
“There will be some very hard choices,” he said. “Every department will be on the table. Nothing is sacred.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The fate of a proposed half-cent sales tax to fund public safety and other city services will rest in the hands of Los Angeles voters today, with some city leaders calling it essential to residents’ safety and opponents slamming it as a money grab by a city unable to control its own spending.
Think Paris, and the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées and haute couture come to mind. But the City of Light also is rich in African American history. Keeping this history alive are tour companies that share it, up close and personal, with visitors to France.
