John Ballard was a former slave from Kentucky, he was one of the early settlers in Los Angeles County. John is also one of the founding members of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. And he was the first African American to settle in the hills above Malibu (near Agoura Hills). The mountain that he settled is the highest mountain in the area at 2031 feet, it was called Nigger head mountain by his white neighbors, later in the 1960s it was re-named Negro head Mountain, this was probably do to embarrassment of the locals. Today it is called Ballard Mountain
John Ballard