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Durham, NC –-Inspired by the indomitable spirit of legendary scholar, Dr. John Hope Franklin, the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke University will host its Inaugural Speaking of Hope Dialogue on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 7:00 pm in the Nelson Music Room, East Duke Building. Distinguished historians Drs. Vincent and Rachel Harding, father and daughter, will engage in a conversation highlighting the persistence of hope found in Black experience.

Since the late 1950s, Dr. Harding has been an activist for social change and was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement working alongside close friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocating for social justice, nonviolent change and racial reconciliation. Dr. Harding is perhaps best known for There Is a River: The Struggle for Freedom in America as well as his writings on Dr. King. He was the senior academic consultant on the documentary series Eyes on the Prize and the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center and the Institute of the Black World, both located in Atlanta, GA.

“We are honored to have Drs. Vincent and Rachel Harding serve as discussants for our inaugural dialogue,” said Chandra Guinn, director for the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture. “Dr. Harding is the quintessential scholar activist and I am awed and inspired by his hopeful example.”

Dr. Harding is professor emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the John Wesley Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado and is the co-founder of the Veterans of Hope Project (http://www.veteransofhope.org/), a grassroots initiative documenting the life stories of long-time leaders and educators in the movement for compassionate social change. He has worked with individuals such as Marion Wright Edelman, Andrew Young, and James Lawson.

As the executive director of the Veterans for Hope Project, Dr. Rachel Harding has been influenced by her father’s work, which inspires her academic, creative and activist work.  Dr. Rachel Harding is an instructor in the History of Religions department in the John Wesley Iliff School of Theology.