Actor Hill Harper Returns to HLS

A Saturday night screening of the HBO film Lackawanna Blues served as a springboard for a discussion on how to pursue one’s passions at Harvard Law School’s (HLS) first-ever “Live Your Dream” event.

Former New York Times film critic and visiting lecturer Elvis Mitchell teamed up with actor and alumnus Hill Harper, the film’s star, to moderate a post-film discussion that highlighted strategies on how to attain success, focusing on the model of African Americans in Hollywood.

According to the coordinator and emcee of the program, Voltaire R. Sterling, the evening set out to “tell a story that isn’t always told,” and to depict how confident, passionate people can make their dream lives their reality.

The story selected for the well-attended event, Lackawanna Blues, is based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s autobiographical play and follows the life of Rachel Crosby or “Nanny,” a selfless woman who adopts and nurtures a boy named Junior, while building a rich community in the strong African American cultural climate of the late 1950s and 1960s.

Harper, who played the adult Junior, conversed with Mitchell about “living your dream” after the film. Harper, whose untraditional career path has brought him marked success in his life, noted the need for individuals to make that first, sometimes difficult step in the process.

“You’re writing your life as you go— the question becomes, how do you want to write your life?” he said.

Applying these ideas to the context of the entertainment industry, Harper and Mitchell then discussed the current state of African Americans in film. Mitchell said “Every time a black movie is released, it is viewed as a fluky proposition.”

Harper said that black actors finally “are getting recognized by the Academy for playing heroes,” citing critically-acclaimed performances by Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby and Jamie Foxx in Ray .

When discussing the possibilities for institutional change in the film business, Mitchell stressed the power of a Harvard education for getting people through would-be-closed gates, while Harper delivered some direct advice: “If you’re making any decision solely based on money, it’s the wrong decision.”

This event marked Harper’s self-proclaimed “first significant time” back to Harvard since his graduation in 1992. He received a J.D. from HLS and a Masters in Public Administration from KSG. Harper, a film, television, and stage performer, currently plays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CBS’s hit series CSI: New York . Harper was also honored earlier Saturday evening at Dean Elena Kagan’s Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speakers Series dinner event at HLS.

Sterling said he hopes the universal nature of the event’s theme will make Live Your Dream an annual affair.