This story first aired on 9/1/2015.
Whether meeting the Dalai Lama or convincing a plantation owner in early 1960s Mississippi to talk about race, late Denver teacher and social worker Rosemarie Freeney Harding possessed the power of persuasion. She recounts those stories and many more from her life on the front lines of the civil rights movement in her memoir, "Remnants," which has been released posthumously.
Her daughter, Rachel Harding, a CU Denver assistant professor of indigenous spiritual traditions, has worked since her mother's death in 2004 to gather Rosemarie Harding's "long, sweet flashes of brilliance" in the book.
Rachel Harding sums up her mother's philosophy in the forward: "There is no scarcity. There is no shortage. No lack of love, of compassion, of joy in the world. There is enough. There is more than enough. Only fear and greed make us think otherwise."
Rosemarie Freeney Harding was married to noted civil rights scholar Vincent Harding, who wrote speeches for Martin Luther King, Jr., and taught for many years at Denver's Iliff School of Theology. He died last year.
Rosemarie Freeney Harding was a Mennonite who pursued peacee and explored Buddhist and indigenous values later in life.
"Mama trained her mind toward the good," Rachel Harding writes. "Maybe she was born that way... she could find a blessedness in anything."
Rachel Harding spoke with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner.
Click here to read an excerpt from "Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism, and Mothering."
