Saturday, February 11, Hill Harper, an award-winning author and actor, will receive the 2012 Sankofa Freedom Award at Rudisill Regional Library, located at 1520 N. Hartford in Tulsa. The award is given by the African-American Resource Center and the Tulsa Library Trust.
The award, which consists of a $7,000 cash prize and an engraved plaque, is given biennially during Black History Month to a nationally acclaimed African-American whose life’s work addresses the complexity of cultural, political and economic issues affecting the African-American community.
Harper will talk about his life and works, answer questions from the audience and sign books. Copies of his books will be available for purchasing.
Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Harry Harper, a psychiatrist, and Marilyn Hill, who was one of the first black practicing anesthesiologists in the United States. He has been acting since the age of 7.
Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and cum laude from Harward Law School. He also obtained a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
While a student at Harvard, Harper befriended Barack Obama. Harper and Obama met on the basketball court and became good friends during their first year as law students.
Although Harper obtained a law degree and an MPA, he chose to use neither and instead moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
Since 2004, Harper has portrayed Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the CBS drama series “CSI: NY.” For three consecutive years (2008-2010), Harper won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Hawkes.
Harper's books include “Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny,” “Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny” and “The Conversation: How Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships.” Each of his books concentrates on keeping an ongoing dialogue in order to face today’s serious social pressures.
His latest book, “The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in its Place,” seeks to examine the relationship between money and wealth. In an interview with News One in August of last year, Harper explained that The Wealth Cure grew out of his work to cultivate financial literacy with his Manifest Your Destiny Foundation. Harper is the founder of the nonprofit foundation, which provides underserved youth a path to empowerment and educational excellence through academic programming, college access skills and personal development.
Harper recalled, “I started to see [people] would use money as an excuse for not living the best version of their lives. ‘I really want to do this and I can’t afford it.’ That’s when a light bulb came on.”
Harper says that he realized that people could use the same process to cure their financial ills that he was using to fight his cancer, beginning with diagnosis, treatment plan, compliance with that plan, and maintenance.
Additional sponsors of the Sankofa Freedom Award include Sally Frasier, Leslie and Jerome Wade, Williams Companies, Carol A. Ainsworth, Maxine E. Horner, Donald Horner Jr. and Millard Latimer Sr.
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