Racist's name removed from Raleigh street, but not from shopping center

Months after plans to change the name of Cameron Village because of its links to slavery, the signs all around the Raleigh shopping center remain the same.

Posted 12:24 p.m. Jul 1, 2021 — Updated 7:00 p.m. Jul 2, 2021

Keely Arthur

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misidentified York Properties as the owner of the Village District. They are a property services company; the Village District is owned by Regency Centers. The previous version also identified Eric Davidson as a spokesperson for York Properties. He is a spokesperson for Regency Centers.

Months after plans to change the name of Cameron Village because of its links to slavery, the signs all around the Raleigh shopping center remain the same.

Regency Centers, which owns the center, said in January that it would rename it Village District. The Cameron name the center bore since it opened in 1949 came from Duncan Cameron, who owned a large plantation in the area in the 1800s, including hundreds of enslaved people.

"I would’ve thought by now that the name by now would be removed," activist Sabrina Goode, who pushed for the name change, said Thursday. "I was surprised when I drove past the area and the Cameron name was still up there. I feel like that sends sort of a mixed message."

Eric Davidson, a spokesperson for Regency Centers, said delays getting city permits for new signs have slowed the process of scrubbing the Cameron name from the center. He said company officials expect to get the permits next week.

"Once we have them in hand, we can issue the demolition contract of the existing signs and begin working towards installing the new ones with the new name," Davidson said in an email to WRAL News.

Some name changes are easier to implement.

Named after plantation owner, Cameron Village Regional Library to rebrand as Village Regional Library

A city crew changed out the street signs on Aycock Street Thursday morning, following the Raleigh City Council's decision in May to rename the nine-block-long street off Glenwood Avenue in the Five Points neighborhood as Roanoke Park Drive.

The street had been named for Charles Aycock, a former North Carolina governor and segregationist who helped foment the white supremacy campaign that resulted in the 1898 insurrection in Wilmington that overthrew Black elected leaders, drove Black-owned businesses from the city and killed at least 60 Black residents.

The idea to change the street name gained traction after George Floyd’s death in police custody last year. Residents petitioned the City Council for the change, with 36 of 76 property owners signing the petition.

"We want to show the community that we are inclusive, and I think Roanoke Park is a great name that brings the community together," resident Stephen Mangano said. "It’s named after the park that brings the whole community together."

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill removed Aycock's name from a dormitory on campus a year ago, and North Carolina officials are working to replace a statue of Aycock at the U.S. Capitol with one of the late Rev. Billy Graham.

York Properties, which manages the center, has removed the Cameron name from store directories at the shopping center and on the center's website, but some shoppers said everything needs to change for the Village District name to stick.

"Those changes need to be made in order for people to actually have them register," said a woman who identified herself only as Emmanuel.

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