Book Launch at Historic Douglass Theatre in Macon
Cascade Publishing House is pleased to announce the book launch date for the memoir of Harold Michael Harvey, Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance.
The historic Douglass Theatre in Harvey’s hometown, Macon, Georgia, will serve as the venue for the book launch party on September 21, 2019, from 6:00 pm-9 pm. The public is invited to come out and greet its native son.
The event will feature an open wine bar, delicious finger food, music, and a chance for attendees to socialize.
The fire marshall will only permit 100 persons in the banquet room at one time, so come early.
Freaknik Lawyer recounts Harvey’s pro bono representation of HBCU students during their spring break festival which was held every third weekend in April in Atlanta.
“Freaknik was an organically grown spring break festival that started on the Atlanta University Center campus in the early 1980s,” Harvey explained. “By the mid-1990s, Freaknik had grown into an out of control street festival, both foot traffic and vehicular. Traffic on the expressway presented a public safety hazard. The city’s response was to discourage Black college students from coming to Atlanta for Freaknik. The mayor vowed to crack down on the students by making wholesale arrests for minor city ordinance violations and blocking access into the city forcing the festival attendees to ride around the perimeter of the city without food, gas or comfort breaks. I thought this was an injustice so I came to the aid of the students,” Harvey said.
Atlanta, “the city too busy to hate,” suddenly in 1996, had massive traffic jams that made it too busy for residences to move around the city. Now the city was faced with a dilemma, she would either live up to her motto of being too busy to hate, or risk exposure as a city too busy to develop a traffic plan to accommodate Black college students for a few days of fun.
What happened? How did it happen? What were the results of this turnout?
These are some of the questions addressed by the Freaknik Lawyer himself in this compelling memoir on the craft of resistance.
Why launch the book in Macon?
“I thought it would be a good idea to launch this book in Macon, Georgia and bring the community together to eat, drank and be merry, because many of the ideas that led me to stand up for the students during Freaknik resulted from my Macon experiences in fighting Ronnie Thompson for paved streets and a recreational center in Unionville,” Harvey said.
From the desk of C. M. Harvey
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. Harvey is a Past President of the Gate City Bar Association. He is the recipient of Gate City’s R. E. Thomas Civil Rights Award, which he received because of his pro bono representation of students arrested during Freaknik celebrations in the mid to late 1990s. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changes Magazine, Medium, and Black College Nines. Contact him at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com.
