Raleigh, NC – Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) sent a letter urging the local postmaster of the U.S. Post Office located at 806 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27605 to change the name of the post office to the “Oberlin Village Post Office.” Still referred to as the “Cameron Village” Post Office by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the new name would recognize the post office’s location in the Oberlin Baptist Church as well as the rich history and contributions of the Oberlin community.

This post office was previously located adjacent to a shopping center which until recently was known as Cameron Village. Named after the owner of the Cameron Plantation, where hundreds of enslaved people were once confined, the name of the post office is an archaic tribute to a horrific past that does not fit the inclusive community that now calls the area home. While the shopping center was recently renamed the “Village District,” the post office still bears the name “Cameron Village”—despite the name’s troubling history and its new location farther away from the shopping center.

The letter read in part: “The current location of this Post Office, on a property owned by the Oberlin Baptist Church, lies within the geographic boundary of Oberlin Village, one of the last surviving antebellum settlements founded by a free Black person in the State of North Carolina…My constituents and members of my community continue to be frustrated that the current Post Office name does not bear the name of the community in which it is located, and that it continues to commemorate the troubling, racist past of Cameron Village.”

Congresswoman Ross previously sent a letter to USPS urging that it update the name of the Oberlin Village Post Office. In accordance with their guidance, Rep. Ross’ letter is requesting that the local postmaster initiate the request to change the name.

The below map from the from the Raleigh Historic Development Commission highlights that the post office (#806) is located in the Oberlin Village District.

Full text of the letter is available here.

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