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Modern Day Foodie
Oberlin: A Village Rooted in Freedom
2023-08-30
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In the late 1860’s, the freed enslaved of the Raleigh, North Carolina area founded Oberlin Village. It was the largest Reconstruction Era black settlement in Wake County. By the 1880’s approximately 160 families lived in Oberlin Village. They established churches, a school, and by 1892 Latta University.
Latta University educated underprivileged and orphaned children in Raleigh’s Black community. Destroyed by fire in 2007.Photo byState Archives of North Carolina, N.2006.11.121
The heart of Oberlin Village was along today’s Oberlin Road between Mayview Road and Bedford Avenue. Along the road you would find churches, small shops, and prominent houses.
September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln decreed the Emancipation Proclamation. Which emancipated all enslaved people in territories outside of his control. The Emancipation Proclamation had little actual effect on freeing any enslaved people. Because the actual implementation was beyond the President’s control. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863.
The Emancipation Proclamation did not grant citizenship to the former enslaved. The passage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 granted former slaves citizenship.
The Homestead Act of 1862, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, granted Americans 160-acre plots of public land. The act allowed citizens of all walks of life, including the formerly enslaved, women, and immigrants to become landowners.
After the Civil War, parcels of land were subdivided and sold to former slaves. The Oberlin Village land had belonged to the wealthy plantation owner, Duncan Cameron. He reportedly owned approximately 1900 enslaved people. More than anyone else in North Carolina.
The Bennehan-Cameron family owned approximately 30,000 acres of land. Part of the original land is now Historic Stagville in Durham and is a North Carolina state historic site. Several buildings still exist. Including some of the slave quarters: See video “Where the Enslaved Slept.”
One of Cameron’s slaves, James E. Harris, established Oberlin Village in 1866. He named the town after his alma mater, Oberlin College in Ohio. At that time, the college’s leaders were abolitionists and had opened enrollment to African Americans. Oberlin Village residents eventually built churches and schools and opened businesses. Some of the original homes were great examples of Victorian architecture. Today, a few remain and can be seen along Oberlin Road, Wade, and Clark Avenues. (Book about Oberlin College during that time.)
By 1873, they established Oberlin Cemetery. Oberlin Cemetery is one of only four known African American cemeteries in Raleigh, North Carolina. Oral history tells us that the area was once a cemetery for the enslaved and later for the freed. See video on Oberlin Cemetery.
Oberlin Village is the only known surviving Antebellum community in the state of North Carolina founded by Freed Blacks. At Oberlin’s height, it was highly respected and had more than 1200 residents. But biased urban renewal changed the village into what it is today. In the 1920s, Oberlin was annexed into the City of Raleigh.
Very few historical structures still exist. Development has erased much of Oberlin Village’s physical and historical landscape. The renovation of many structures by Preservation North Carolina has revealed forgotten history about the families who lived in this historical community.
Comments and stories
If you have any stories or kind article corrections about Oberlin Village, North Carolina. Please leave a comment below.
If you are looking for ancestors or descendants of Oberlin Village. We suggest you contact the Friends of Oberlin Village.
Podcast Raleigh: Interview with Sabrina Goode and Emma Liles. They are working to preserve an important and often overlooked part of Raleigh’s history: Oberlin Village, a community of African Americans near Oberlin Road that flourished after the Civil War, and Latta University, a school whose campus was at the center of the community. Find Podcast
Book about Village’s Namesake: Oberlin College, Hotbed of Abolitionism: College, Community, and the Fight for Freedom and Equality in Antebellum America
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