Chessie Harris, affectionately known as “Mama Harris,” was the founder and Director of the Harris Home for Children in Madison County, Alabama. Originally from Tuskegee, where she witnessed many hardships, her family later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the “Great Migration.”  She returned to Huntsville in 1950 to work at Oakwood University, after which she established her nonprofit. The Harris Home for Children served as a refuge for more than 1,200 North Alabama children and is still in operation.