{"id":3619,"date":"2026-06-30T20:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3619"},"modified":"2026-06-30T20:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:36:59","slug":"years-later-a-raleigh-neighborhood-remains-divided-on-removing-a-slave-owners-name-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3619","title":{"rendered":"Years later, a Raleigh neighborhood remains divided on removing a slave-owner\u2019s name"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Depending on who someone asks, one Raleigh neighborhood could have two names.<\/p>\n

The area \u2014 sandwiched between downtown, N.C. State University and The Village \u2014 is labeled on Google Maps and by the city of Raleigh as Forest Park.<\/p>\n

Read more Elon University is now in control of Queens in Charlotte, accreditor says<\/a><\/p>\n

But some residents still call it by its old name: Cameron Park. They argue that although the Camerons were slaveholders, changing the name would erase history.<\/p>\n

The Cameron Park name is derived from the slave-owning Cameron family, who owned significant land in and around Raleigh in the 19th century, including the land where the neighborhood now lies.<\/p>\n

Residents of the neighborhood voted to change the name in 2021<\/a>, and in 2024, chose Forest Park as the area\u2019s new name<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the vote in 2024, some residents filed a lawsuit, saying it wasn\u2019t held properly, according to the bylaws of the neighborhood association.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve since voluntary dismissed the suit, according to online court records. But they may refile the suit to better reflect new information, wrote Robin Tatum, an attorney for the suing neighbors in a May 27 letter to the neighborhood association.<\/p>\n

Myrick Howard, one of the people who sued the neighborhood association, says he and neighbors \u201cpaused\u201d the suit for now, but they still have the intent of getting a judge to say \u201cno, the name is Cameron Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 suit argued because the name of the association legally remains the Cameron Park Neighborhood Association, according to filings with the state of North Carolina, that the neighborhood\u2019s name never actually changed.<\/p>\n

Neighborhood groups are given funds by the city for festival equipment as well as neighborhood projects and programs, according to the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood association has been doing business as the Forest Park Neighborhood Association, but it has acknowledged in legal filings that it never changed its actual name from the Cameron Park Neighborhood Association.<\/p>\n

The suit also argued that the neighborhood association never went through the proper process for renaming, according to the organization\u2019s bylaws.<\/p>\n

That would require a two-thirds vote of neighborhood association members at a called meeting of the organization, the suit said.<\/p>\n

But because the neighborhood association admitted in court documents and a hearing that it did not legally change its name, the group who filed the suit may need to refile it to better reflect the facts and its goals in the case.<\/p>\n

Howard, a historic preservationist, said slavery was very wrong. But he also said that Duncan Cameron, a prominent North Carolinian through the mid-19th century, was an important figure in the area around Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Cameron owned multiple plantations and more than 900 enslaved people, making him among the biggest slavers in the state at the time, Howard said. But he also played a part in the construction of the state capitol by serving on its building committee.<\/p>\n

Read more A single mom in Durham needed help. Now, she offers free childcare to families.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cameron also donated land for St. Mary\u2019s School, the private all-girls school next to the Forest Park neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Howard said he was a very prominent North Carolinian, and that\u2019s not history that people should try to erase.<\/p>\n

He added that he believes the neighborhood is still split almost evenly on the issue.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood association\u2019s attorney, Neil Riemann, wrote that \u201cA neighborhood is not a legal construct … and the Association cannot govern what people choose to call their neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in court fillings, the neighborhood association said that because they weren\u2019t changing the legal name of the neighborhood association, which itself requires changing the association\u2019s bylaws, they didn\u2019t have to follow the rule calling for a two-thirds vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have voted to change our bylaws, but we were told that it required more paperwork,\u201d former neighborhood association President Michael Lindsay told neighbors in a virtual meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

What the organization did do is ask the city to change the neighborhood name in its list of neighborhoods. It also asked the city to change the name of its neighborhood conservation overlay district (NCOD) to the Forest Park NCOD<\/p>\n

An NCOD is a zoning tool Raleigh uses to preserve the physical form of older neighborhoods. NCODs set rules for things like minimum lot size<\/a>, lot width, setbacks, building height, and how far a home must sit from the street, The News & Observer previously reported.<\/p>\n

The name was also changed on social media platforms and Google Maps. And the association went through the relatively simple process to change its \u201cdoing business as\u201d name with the state, Lindsay said. A doing business as name is not the exact legal name, but rather a kind of legally recognized nickname.<\/p>\n

The movement to change the name of the neighborhood occurred in 2021, a year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by local police and shortly after the Village District shopping area, originally called Cameron Village, changed its name.<\/p>\n

Residents at the time called for the renaming to reaffirm the community\u2019s commitment to diversity and inclusion and mitigate the hurtful impact on new neighbors of color, The N&O previously reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

The neighborhood voted 240 to 201 in favor of a name change. Lindsay said that voter eligibility was checked. Howard said he believed students who should not have been eligible to vote did.<\/p>\n

The Camerons were not the only owners of enslaved people with a neighborhood named after them. The Mordecai family also owned enslaved people<\/a> and operated a plantation in the neighborhood just north of downtown, according to the city of Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Read more Canes prospect Charlie Cerrato leaning on hurdles as he seeks next-level success<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 8:13 AM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A neighborhood is split over changing Cameron Park to Forest Park after votes, lawsuits and debates about history, inclusion and neighborhood association rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nYears later, a Raleigh neighborhood remains divided on removing a slave-owner\u2019s name - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3619\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Years later, a Raleigh neighborhood remains divided on removing a slave-owner\u2019s name - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A neighborhood is split over changing Cameron Park to Forest Park after votes, lawsuits and debates about history, inclusion and neighborhood association rules.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3619\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T20:36:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"headline\":\"Years later, a Raleigh neighborhood remains divided on removing a slave-owner\u2019s name\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T20:36:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619\"},\"wordCount\":977,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/820c3277a6388eeb3c98478d4d9d2bf5.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619\",\"name\":\"Years later, a Raleigh neighborhood remains divided on removing a slave-owner\u2019s name - Durham Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/820c3277a6388eeb3c98478d4d9d2bf5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T20:36:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=3619#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/820c3277a6388eeb3c98478d4d9d2bf5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/820c3277a6388eeb3c98478d4d9d2bf5.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674,\"caption\":\"Developed in the early 1910s to attract upper-middle-class residents, Cameron Park is one of the Raleigh\u2019s most prominent neighborhoods. 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