Charles Oscar Harris Family Home - 813 Adams Avenue - African American Community Leader - Montgomery, AL - Alabama Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Side 1
Charles O. Harris was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on August 5, 1852. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio. Later, in 1870, he became one of the first students at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Returning to Alabama during Reconstruction, he served as Collector of U.S. Revenue at the Port of Montgomery and assistant enrolling clerk in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1872 to 1874. Harris served a single term in the Alabama Legislature from 1876 to 1877, when the volatile political climate in the state precluded further participation of black officeholders.
On March 11, 1875, Harris and other prominent Montgomery African Americans tested the Civil Rights Act of 1875 by purchasing tickets to the white-only section of the Montgomery Theatre. Being denied seats, they pursued their rights in court.
Harris lived to become one of the longest active Republicans in the state. He attended eight Republican National Conventions as a delegate- at-large. In 1892, he represented Alabama at the White House as part of the Notification Committee that informed President Benjamin Harrison of his nomination for a second term.
In 1881, Harris was appointed by the Harrison administration to serve as chief clerk for the Montgomery Post Office, a position he held until 1913. Sponsored by descendants of Charles O. Harris.
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Side 2
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In 1882, Charles Harris married Ellen Hassell Hardaway, who was a graduate of Fisk University and a teacher at Madison School. In this home, they raised ten children, nine of whom attended college: Georgia Harris Holley, teacher
Countess Malone Harris Cashin, teacher
Charles Oscar Harris Jr, MD
Roscoe Windom Harris, BA
Mortimer Melbourne Harris, JD
Albert Harris, deceased in childhood
Ellen Harris Hilyer, teacher
Booker Washington Harris, DDS
Aileen Harris Davis, MA
Ruth Harris Bunche, BA
Their youngest child, Ruth, married United Nations Under-Secretary General Ralph Bunche, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Shortly after his retirement from the Post Office, Charles Oscar Harris died at his Adams Avenue home on October 8, 1913, at the age of sixty-one. Remembered as one of the era's most politically active and socially prominent citizens, he is buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Sponsored by descendants of Charles O. Harris.

Marker Name: Charles Oscar Harris Family Home - 813 Adams Avenue - African American Community Leader Marker Type: Urban Addtional Information:: Erected by Alabama Historical Association Date Dedicated / Placed: 2019 Marker Number: Not listed

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