"The first Black man in Mendocino"

Nathaniel Smith was at one time "known to every man, woman and child on the coast," according to an early account of his life. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, as a free person, he arrived in Mendocino on a whaling ship in 1851 as a young man and spent the rest of his life here. In this report, Kelley House Museum Director Anne Semans talks about this first-ever exhibit based on historical accounts.

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KZYX reporters and independent journalists cover local news for Mendocino County, California, Monday through Friday in six and a half minute reports. The KZYX News podcast is available for redistribution under CC BY 4.0, or the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.