Rosemarie Freeney Harding (1930–2004) was an organizer, teacher, social worker, and cofounder of Mennonite House, an early integrated community center in Atlanta. She also cofounded the Veterans of Hope Project at the Iliff School of Theology.
Rachel Elizabeth Harding, daughter of Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Vincent Harding, is Assistant Professor of Indigenous Spiritual Traditions in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado, Denver, and author of
Rosemarie Freeney Harding (1930–2004) was an organizer, teacher, social worker, and cofounder of Mennonite House, an early integrated community center in Atlanta. She also cofounded the Veterans of Hope Project at the Iliff School of Theology.
Rachel Elizabeth Harding, daughter of Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Vincent Harding, is Assistant Professor of Indigenous Spiritual Traditions in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado, Denver, and author of
North
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Published:April 2015
Describes Rosemarie’s childhood in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Southside Chicago, an economically diverse African American community where dozens of her relatives lived and where many of the inhabitants were recent immigrants from the South. The chapter discusses Rosemarie’s experiences in elementary school, the special care she received as the baby of the family, her love of movies and dance, her parents’ wisdom about how to end a dispute between Rosemarie and a neighbor friend, and the suspicious drowning death of a cousin.
Describes the Dardens, the family that lived across the street from Rosemarie in Woodlawn. Shirley Darden was Rosemarie’s best friend, and Rosemarie idolized Shirley’s older sister, Sarah. The Dardens were a kind of second family to her; the great-grandmother was still alive, and had been a slave, and Rosemarie felt lucky to hear her stories—even though they were often difficult—since her own grandparents had passed away before she was born.
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