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
Hospitality, Haints, and Healing: African American Indigenous Religion and Activism
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Published:April 2015
2015. "Hospitality, Haints, and Healing: African American Indigenous Religion and Activism", Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism, and Mothering, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, Rachel Elizabeth Harding
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This chapter explores three central values within black religion and culture: hospitality, healing practices, and ghosts/spirit stories. It looks at each topic individually and tells of experiences Rosemarie, her family members, and movement colleagues have had regarding each one. Her grandmother was a holistic healer and Rosemarie understands her activism as a form of healing work; she also sees the recounting of ghost stories as a form of energy-transformation that has parallels to the way music transformed the energy of participants in the Southern Freedom Movement. The chapter also includes reflections on stories from Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ruby Sales, and Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons about their experiences in the freedom movement.
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