Bishop Bill Harris, member of the Freedom Singers and activist, dies at 82

Bishop Bill Harris led a life of service that took him from his native Albany, Georgia, to musical stages across the country to civil rights marches throughout the South.

He was a soldier, a civil rights singer and field worker, a beloved minister and an attentive father.

“No matter how busy he was, he never missed anything we did,” said daughter Carlotta Harrell, chairwoman of the Henry County Commission. “Every play, concert, game, awards ceremony, he was there for his children and his grandchildren.”

William C. “Bill” Harris died on Dec. 9, of cancer. He was 82.

The son of Mamie Whitfield and William Harris, he grew up attending a Baptist church in Albany with his mother and his grandmother. At 19, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from 1962 until 1964.

He moved to Atlanta and began working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where he met Brenda Usher. They worked together for SNCC for two years before marrying in 1966.

Harris “had a beautiful voice,” his daughters said, which he used as a member of the Freedom Singers. If SNCC was planning to protest in a particular city, the Singers would visit before the SNCC workers arrived, to generate support and inspire participants.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Harris was a recording artist with the Dynamics, who toured with Jerry Butler, Little Richard, Curtis Mayfield, Jackie Wilson, the Jackson 5, the Temptations and others.

As part of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, he worked closely — almost always in the background — with Hosea Williams, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, all of whom became his friends. He participated in marches through Mississippi with King.

“My father had an impactful and impressive life,” said daughter Kenya Simmons. “He remained a behind-the-scenes kind of person. He loved to get the work done and be in the trenches.”

Bill Harris led a life of service that took him from his native Albany, Georgia, to musical stages across the country to civil rights marches throughout the South. He was a soldier, a civil rights singer and field worker, a beloved minister and an attentive father. (Courtesy of Kenya Simmons)

In 1977, while working with the SCLC, Harris was called to the ministry. He and Brenda had been attending the Pentecostal Refuge Temple of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He started a church in Lawrenceville and then moved his ministry to Monroe as Bethel Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He was named State Evangelist for the Northern Diocese Churches of Our Lord Jesus Christ in 1993 and was the chaplain for the People’s Agenda with the Rev. Joseph Lowery.

Even after he retired, Harris led revivals, delivered opening prayers and participated in marches, like the Moore’s Ford March. That event marks the 1949 lynching of two Black couples, one of the women was pregnant, in Walton County.

And he loved to fish. His daughters said if there was a body of water near him, he was going to drop a line in it. He had extra fishing poles for whoever wanted to join him.

“He loved to eat whatever was biting,” daughter Carlotta Harrell said. “He would cook them up so nice and crispy — he taught his grandchildren how to do that.”

In addition to his wife and two daughters, Harris is survived by sisters Eunice, Janice, Marcia Lynn, Brenda, Linda, Juanita, LaGail and Jackie; and brothers Carl, Melvin and Garrett. He was predeceased by a daughter, Charity Harris, and a son, Rodney Harris. Other survivors include grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.