Another Raleigh neighborhood landmark is dropping the Cameron name
The Cameron Village Post Office has been renamed the Oberlin Village Post Office.
The change by the U.S. Postal Service comes after months of urging by U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross and the Friends of Oberlin Village.
“I have heard frequently from constituents who were frustrated that the post office’s previous name honored a deeply troubling part of our history rather than the strength, perseverance, and inclusiveness of the Oberlin community,” Ross said in a news release Thursday.
The Cameron name, a reference to a family that once was one of the largest holders of enslaved people in North Carolina, has been dropped by a neighborhood, regional library and nearby shopping center in the last two years.
The post office changed locations in 2019 and moved to the Oberlin Baptist Church. The church has served the Oberlin community for nearly 150 years and was founded by Plummer T. Hall, who had formerly been enslaved.
“The Postal Service’s action is a timely tribute to Oberlin Village, one of the last known surviving free and freedmen’s villages in the state of North Carolina that grew out of an antebellum Free Black settlement,” said Sabrina Goode, executive director of Friends of Oberlin Village, in a news release.
The post office moved to the church from its longtime location at 505 Oberlin Road due to rising rent prices. Late last year, a spokesperson for the Postal Service told The News & Observer it was still searching for a long-term location for the branch.
