Freaknik Lawyer Wins Book Award!
We are excited to announce that Harold Michael Harvey has won a bronze medal from the Living Now Book Awards in the category of male memoirs for his work Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance ( Cascade Publishing House, Atlanta, 2019).
Harvey’s book will be featured next year in the Awards section at the prestigious BookExpo America 2021. His novel Paper Puzzle received similar exposure at BookExpo America 2011.
“The announcement caught me by surprise,” Harvey said.
Grinning broadly, Harvey said, “I am delighted that Living Now found merit in my work.”
Freaknik Lawyer chronicles Harvey’s life from the day before he was born through his pro bono representation of students from historically Black Colleges and Universities, who were arrested during a Black College spring festival in the mid-1990s in Atlanta, Georgia.
Harvey stood alone as the only attorney in the metropolitan Atlanta area who dared to support these college students. His courageous representation earned him the nickname “Freaknik Lawyer.”
“What I saw in the streets of Atlanta during Freaknik in the 90s is what I saw across America in 2020. The only difference is the iPhone,” Harvey said.
When asked what the Living Now Award means to him, Harvey said, “I hope this medal will bring greater recognition to my work. After closing my law practice in 2005, I have tried to reinvent myself as the writer I had always wanted to be. Perhaps, this award will draw more readers to my work.”
Besides Paper Puzzle and Justice in the Round: Essays on the American Jury System written in the last decade, Harvey penned two books during the 2020 pandemic. They are the Duke of 18th & Vine: Bob Kendrick Pitches Negro League Baseball and My C. T. Vivian Story: A Powerful Flame That Burned Brightly.
FROM THE DESK OF C. M. HARVEY
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Good show! Congrats!
Thanks so much, Lupo. As a brother at the writer’s trade, I know you understand how difficult it is to get others to see the value in your work.
A well-deserved award. Congratulations! Proud of your work. Mary Wilder
Dr. Wilder, thanks for your kind words and continued support for my writing career. Just think 55 years ago earlier this month, I was 13 years old, sitting in an English class at Mercer University receiving instruction from you in preparation for integrating Lanier Jr. High School. I can’t recall ever saying thank you, so I am saying it now, thanks for putting that program together those many years ago.
Congratulations!⚜?
Thanks.
Mighty Good News!
Chief, thanks for your encouragement and inspiration.