Rachel E HardingRachel Elizabeth Harding is a poet, historian, and scholar of religions of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Harding teaches in the Ethnic Studies department of the University of Colorado Denver and writes about relgion, creativity, and social justice in the experience of communities of African descent in the U.S. and Brazil. Dr. Harding is author of two books: A Refuge in Thunder, a history of the Afro-Brazilian religion, Candomblé; and more recently, Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism and Mothering, co-written with her mother, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, on the role of compassion and mysticism in African American social justice organizing. Dr. Harding is also an ebômi (ritual elder) in the Terreiro do Cobre Candomblé community in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She co directs the Veterans of Hope Project--an interdisciplinary initiative on religion, grassroots democracy, and healing, that was founded by her parents, Vincent and Rosemarie Freeney Harding. (www.veteransof hope.org). Read More Read Less