[1] As a result of her long activist career, Harvey received many accolades, including the Outstanding Mississippian Award, given to her by Governor William Waller in 1974.
[6] Harvey and Collins had a long courting period during which both parties gained additional degrees and worked to advance their respective careers.
Harvey occupied many religious leadership positions traditionally filled by either white women or black men and her efforts were recognized with several awards including America's Churchwoman of the Year and the Upper Room Citation.
Many Freedom Riders would cite the support they received from Womanpower Unlimited as the reason they were able to endure the harsh realities of imprisoned life.
[8] Womanpower Unlimited would later broaden its activist activities through voter registration events, school desegregation advocacy and creating educational scholarships.
[10][11] Following this integrationist approach, she and other members of Womanpower Unlimited organized a group called the Chain of Friendship which brought white women from northern states into Mississippi to develop an interracial community.
[10] However, as the business-owner of Collins Funeral Home and Insurance Company and co-founder of State Mutual Savings and Loan Association,[3] Harvey was only reliant on her black customers for income.
[12] Harvey used her business savvy to assist the NAACP with their marketing strategies, promoted selective buying campaigns which led to financial losses for businesses refusing to employ or fairly treat black workers and used her funeral expertise and resources to coordinate the funeral of prominent civil rights activist and colleague, Medgar Evers.
As a mortician, Harvey politicized death and sent newsletters from her funeral home to black Mississippians who may have been overwhelmed or desensitized by white violence.
[12] Despite her own financial success, Harvey remained an outspoken anti-poverty advocate, arguing that it was necessary to improve the economic conditions of all black Southerners if the goal of racial equality was to be achieved.
She fought for the right to quality public housing, invested in black businesses and when she saw companies like Sears take advantage of the socioeconomically and racially oppressed, she immediately sold her stocks.
Harvey also worked with the Farish Street Management Association and Jackson Chapter of the National Business League to promote urban development.
During her time with the Association, she convinced Vice President Hubert Humphrey to bring over 300 more jobs to the local Youth Corp.[2] Though all of Harvey's work was done with an intersectional black feminist mindset, some accomplishments specifically related to feminism include counseling President Ford on women's issues in the United States and her contributions to the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women.