By Tevon Blair ·Updated February 18, 2026 /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Six decades after the Civil Rights Movement, Rutha Mae Harris, the last surviving member of the Freedom Singers, is continuing to shape how the next generation of leaders in Albany, Georgia are incorporating music and vocal performance in their advocacy efforts. 

“Today, I am still singing those songs because freedom is a constant struggle,” said Harris. “It seems like we are trying to go backwards, but we ain’t going to let nobody turn us around. We are going to keep fighting.” 

The Freedom Singers. Courtesy Albany GA Convention and Visitors Bureau

Harris’ voice and legacy remains central to the historic fight for civil rights in Georgia’s southwest region and how those stories are told. Through its historic churches, the Albany Civil Rights Institute, and annual commemorative programming during Black History Month, community members and city leaders continue to preserve the history that lives within the buildings, streets and the people of Albany. 

“Learning the history of Albany has helped me learn my own history and who I am as a young man, son, and leader,” said Martae Hicks, a student at Albany State University (ASU). “Being from Albany is a blessing and a privilege because greatness comes from my hometown. I am indeed a proud son of ‘The Good Life City.’

Freedom Singers, also known as the quartet singing group of the movement for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), formed during the early 1960s. Cordell Reagon, Bernice Johnson, Chuck Neblett and Harris brought their voices together to create the sounds of the movement and helped people across the country feel the emotions and resistance that was built in the South.  

As racial segregation and Jim Crow laws laid the foundation for the Black experience across the country, activism and the fight for a new America was a constant theme for Black youth during the movement. SNCC was founded on the campus of Shaw University, a historically Black institution in Raleigh, North Carolina, two months after college students at North Carolina A & T State University launched sit-ins at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

The group was formed to raise funds for SNCC, traveling mostly by car across 46 states in just nine months, telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement through songs. On August 28, 1963, the Freedom Singers traveled to Washington, D.C., performing ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ for a crowd of more than 250,000 people during the March on Washington. The group traveled by a plane chartered by actor and singer Harry Belafonte to join the historic event. 

From mass meetings, churches, and high schools, the singers lifted their voices across the country. After the group’s first tour, nearly $50,000 was raised to expand SNCC’s mobilization efforts. Beyond using her voice, Harris participated in voter registration drives and several protests that led to her spending a total of 14 days in jail for advocating for basic human rights. The jail cell was yet another site that Harris used as a stage for freedom songs. 

Although music has evolved from the traditional sounds of the 1960s movement, Harris tells ESSENCE, “freedom songs are from any genre of music. Whatever the young people’s struggles are, they will have to identify that struggle and come up with lyrics from a song that people already know. That’s how freedom songs came about.” 

The fight for voting rights remains a struggle across America, largely in the South, as state and federal lawmakers are removing polling locations on college campuses, tightening early voting windows and adding restrictions to Voter-ID laws. The possible implementation of the SAVE America Act, which recently passed in the House, would require states to obtain proof-of-citizenship documents when registering to vote for federal elections. Most recently, young people are using their voices to lead nationwide nonviolent protests against actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

Today, Harris continues to go into classrooms to speak to young people about the importance of voting and how freedom songs kept the movement going. Harris continues to be a familiar singing voice advocate for Albany residents. Kasey Summerville, president and chief executive officer of Visit Albany, says that Harris is “still using her gifts and her talents to give back to her community, right here in Albany.” 

Visit Albany is celebrating Black History Month through a series of events starting with a conversation with Reena Evers-Everette, the daughter of Medgar Evers and Myrlie Evers-Williams, a book signing with Brenda G. Partridge-Brown, author of ‘Echoes of a Little Brown Soldier Girl,’ the book that inspired the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, along with Albany native Cathy Wilson-Johnson, author of ‘Hallelujah Anyhow.’ Also included in the events are tours led by the ASU student at the Albany Civil Rights Institute. 

“Black history is American history and erasing it is not an option,” said Summerville. “I believe for generations to come we must tell the stories to our kids and grandchildren because they need to know.” Harris shares more of her story through a series led by Visit Albany that honors the living legacy that continues to contribute to the city’s rich history, making Albany a meaningful place to live and visit today.

The post Meet Rutha Mae Harris The Last Original Freedom Singer Preserving Albany’s Civil Rights Legacy appeared first on Essence.