Remembering Vincent Harding

Today I am honoring my daddy, Vincent Harding, who passed into glory on this day, five years ago – May 19, 2014.

When I think about my daddy and my mama, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, at this juncture of my life, what comes most strongly to my mind is the way they embodied together a tremendous warmth, dedication and depth of spirit in the midst of struggle. They wrapped faith and resistance very beautifully in imagination and a wide, inclusive understanding of family. And they gave me room to find my own way in the world with their support. I am grateful every day to Creator and Creation for my parents. My mama and daddy’s work is, in many ways, the model I take for my own life.

Daddy was a historian in love with the best possibilites and most humane potentials of this nation. He believed that any TRUE democracy the country could claim was created by the great river of struggle of Black people and many allies who were able to envision the United States of America beyond the limited and stultifying sights of the “founding fathers.”

Daddy was a teacher with a marvelous gift of encouragement. He credits my mom with recognizing, sustaining and modeling that gift for him/in him. Over the course of his life, Daddy developed the capacity to listen carefully and intently and to offer guidance, sometimes in just a few words, that sent students in the direction of deep introspection and a search of ancestors (blood and chosen) who could be models for them in “freedom work.”

And he LOVED young people and liked to be in the midst of their questioning, probing, challenging, risk-taking energy.

My prayer for this day, is that Daddy’s spirit will enliven and protect the youth in Denver, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Barbados, Boston, New Mexico, California and all the places between and beyond where young folks are looking for new ways to care for one another, to be human with each other, to stand up for poor people, for Black people, for Native people, for the water and the land, for the wellbeing of plants and animals, and to imagine healthy ways for us all to live together in this beautiful, suffering, tenacious world.

— Rachel Elizabeth Harding