Albany Technical College announce special guests for upcoming TEAAMS Monthly Empowerment Session in recognition of Black History Month
Special Guests:
Frank Wilson, Former Executive Director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute,
and Miss Rutha Harris, Original Freedom Singer/Retired Educator
TEAAMS Session at Albany Technical College
Event: TEAAMS Monthly Empowerment Session
Location: Logistics Education Center
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 10:00 a.m.
Albany, Georgia – Albany Technical College announces the upcoming TEAAMS Monthly Empowerment Session on February 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Logistics Education Center. The featured speaker for this session will be Frank Wilson. As part of the college’s Teaching, Empowering, African American Males to Succeed (TEAAMS) initiative, the program aims to equip African American males with essential skills to help them persist and succeed despite internal and external challenges.
“We are honored to have Mr. Wilson and Ms. Harris grace us with their presence as we recognize Black History Month. The theme for this year is ‘A Century of Black History Commemorations,’” said Quanta Bell, TEAAMS Project Director. “Each month, TEAAMS hosts a Monthly Empowerment Session, where ATC faculty and community leaders are invited to speak to students.”
W. Frank Wilson is a native of Moultrie, Georgia, and is the son of the late W.J. and Frankie Wilson. He is a 1963 graduate of Bryant High School. He holds a Bachelor of Science in History from Fort Valley State College (now Fort Valley State University) and a Master of Public Administration from Suffield University. A retiree, Wilson enjoyed 48 years of professional service as a classroom teacher, an Urban League executive, a university employee, and the Executive Director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute.
He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., where he serves on the district council and the See It Through Foundation Board of Directors. He is a member of the historic Shiloh Baptist Church, where he serves as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and church organist. He also holds membership in the Criterion Club, where he serves as Vice President, and the 26 Club. He serves as Board Chairman for the Albany Housing Authority and the New Georgia Project Action Fund. Wilson writes a weekly column entitled “Frankly Speaking” for the Albany Southwest Georgian newspaper and is a community activist.
He is married to Olivia, and they have seven children, 16 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. He enjoys reading, writing, golfing, bowling, traveling, and spoiling his great – grandchildren.
The session will also include musical selections from one of the Original Freedom Singers, Miss Rutha Harris.
Miss Rutha Harris, a lifelong resident of Albany, Georgia, was the seventh child born on November 27, 1940, to the late Reverend and Mrs. I.A. Harris, founder of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Her late mother was a retired schoolteacher. Miss Harris attended Albany’s public schools, graduating from Monroe High School in 1958 and Albany State College (now Albany State University) in 1970. She pursued further studies at Valdosta State University, Dillard University, and Florida A&M University.
Miss Harris returned to Albany in 1961 and joined the Albany Movement and the Original Freedom Singers, traveling more than 50,000 miles singing for the cause of freedom and raising funds for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she was jailed four times during the Albany, Georgia, Movement in 1961-1962.
Miss Harris’ professional career began in 1963 when the Freedom Singers were signed to a recording contract with Mercury Records. She has also recorded with the Landmark Gospel Singers, the Georgia Mass Choir, and Whitney Houston. She has performed in 46 states, the Virgin Islands, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Civic Opera House in Chicago, Illinois, the United Nations in New York, the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Bahamas.
A highlight of Miss Harris’ career was being selected to perform as a member of the Georgia Mass Choir in the movie The Preacher’s Wife, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. In 1998, Miss Harris organized the Albany Civil Rights Museum (now Institute) Freedom Singers. This group performs every second Saturday of each month and travels to other cities upon request.
Miss Harris has received numerous honors, including the Martin Luther King Dream Award in 2001, Coca-Cola Educator of the Month in February 2001, Outstanding Georgia Citizen by Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Woman of Achievement by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and the Key to the City of Albany twice, presented by former Mayor Tommy Coleman. She is also a former Teacher of the Year at Monroe Comprehensive High School.
In 2004, Miss Harris recorded her first CD titled I’m On the Battlefield. That same year, she performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the 50th anniversary celebration of Brown v. Board of Education. On June 17-20, 2004, she received an award from the 40th Accord Anniversary, commemorating the Civil Rights Demonstrations, Inc., for her steadfastness in preserving Black history. In 2006, Miss Harris received the I.B.P.O.E. of West Georgia State Association Civil Liberties Department Award.
In October 2025, Harris’ home was officially designated as a “Local Historical Landmark.”
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