The City of Henderson’s operations and service center will be renamed for Dr. Andrea L. Harris at a ribbon-cutting ceremony next week.
The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. at the facility, located at 900 S. Beckford Dr., according to information from County Manager Terrell Blackmon.
The City Council voted in 2021 to rename the center in honor of Harris, who grew up in Henderson, began her teaching career here and was a community activist on the local and state levels. She died in May 2020.
Harris was an advocate for contractors and the building industry and she also was a civil rights leader, which made the operations center a very fitting site – the operations center is the largest voting location during city and county elections.
She was active locally and participated on a variety of boards, councils and commissions.
Harris received many accolades and awards over the years, including the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from three governors and an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Bennett College.
In 2018, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Duke University’s Samuel Dubois Cook Society.
She was a member of the Oxford-Henderson Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and a life member of the NAACP. Harris was a trustee and member of Kesler Temple AME Zion Church. She was small in stature but a forced to be reckoned with. She was always willing to be a “voice” for the underrepresented, breaking down socio-economic, racial, and gender barriers as a broker for change and equality for ALL people.