Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

{{short description|Historic church in South Carolina, United States}}

{{For|the Alabama church|Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Mobile, Alabama)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2015}}

{{Infobox church

| name = Emanuel AME Church

| fullname = "Mother Emanuel"
African Methodist Episcopal Church

| other name =

| image = The steeple of Emanuel African Methodist Church, Charleston, SC.jpg

| imagesize = 250px

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| alt = The steeple of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Church, Charleston, SC

| pushpin map = USA South Carolina#USA

| pushpin label position = right

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| coordinates = {{coord|32|47|14|N|79|55|59|W|display=inline,title}}

| location = Charleston, South Carolina

| country = United States

| denomination = African Methodist Episcopal Church

| membership = 1600 (2008)

| attendance =

| website = {{URL|motheremanuel.com|motheremanuel.com}}

| former name =

| founded date = 1816

| founder = Rev. Morris Brown
Denmark Vesey

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| status = Church

| functional status = Active

| designated date =

| architect = John Henry Devereux

| architectural type =

| style = Gothic Revival

| years built =

| groundbreaking = {{end date|1891}}

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| construction cost =

| capacity = 2500

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| spire quantity = 1

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| parish = African Methodist Episcopal Church

| district = Seventh

| bishop = Samuel Lawerence Green

| seniorpastor = Rev. Eric S.C. Manning

| logo =

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| embedded = {{Infobox NRHP

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| name = Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

| nrhp_type = NRHP

| nrhp_type2 = nhldcp

| designated_nrhp_type2 = {{start date|1966|10|15}}

| nocat = yes

| location = Charleston, South Carolina

| architect = John Henry Devereux

| architecture =

| added = October 25, 2018

| partof = Charleston Historic District

| partof_refnum = 66000964{{cite web |title=Old and Historic Charleston (Extend) |url={{NRHP url|id=66000964}} |website=National Park Service |publisher=Department of the Interior |access-date=June 18, 2015}}

| refnum = 100003056

}}

}}

File:Emblem of Emanuel AME Church.png

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, colloquially Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1817. It is the oldest AME church in the Southern United States; founded the previous year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AME was the first independent black denomination in the nation. Mother Emanuel has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore{{cite news |last1=Weisman |first1=Jonathan |title=Killings Add a Painful Chapter to Storied History of Charleston Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-killings-evoke-history-of-violence-against-black-churches.html |access-date=June 18, 2015 |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2015}} (black Baptist churches were founded in South Carolina and Georgia before the American Revolutionary War).

History

=History and foundation=

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Great Awakenings, Baptist and Methodist missionaries had evangelized among both enslaved and free African Americans in the South, as well as whites. Blacks were welcomed as members of the new churches and some leaders were licensed as preachers. But the white-dominated churches generally maintained control of their institutions and often relegated blacks to segregated galleries or separate services, scheduled at alternative times or in such locations as church basements. State law and city ordinance required lawful churches to be led by whites. African-American members, most of whom were enslaved, were allowed to hold separate services in those churches, usually in the basements.

In Charleston in the nineteenth century, the white-dominated churches had increasingly discriminated against blacks. A dispute arose after white leaders of Bethel Methodist authorized construction of a hearse house over its black burial ground.{{Cite book |title=Black Heritage Sites: An African American Odyssey and Finder's Guide |last=Curtis |first=Nancy C. |publisher=American Library Association |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-838-90643-9 |location=Chicago |pages=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rk7NPRm_nB0C&q=National%20Register%20of%20Historic%20Places%20Emanuel%20African%20Methodist%20Episcopal%20Church%20charleston&pg=PA195 |oclc=45885630}} Black congregants were outraged.

In 1818 church leader Morris Brown left this church in protest. Nearly 2,000 Black members from the city's three Methodist churches soon followed him to create a new church.{{Cite web |url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/brown-morris-1770-1849 |title=Brown, Morris (1770–1849) |access-date=June 17, 2015 |website=BlackPast.org |publisher=BlackPast.org |last=Yee |first=Shirley|date=April 26, 2008 }}

They founded a church known first as the Hampstead Church on Reid and Hanover streets.{{citation |last=Robertson |first=David M. |title=Denmark Vesey: The Buried Story of America's Largest Slave Rebellion and the Man who Led It |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=c_98WSvh6s8C&pg=PA45 45] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_98WSvh6s8C |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |date=1999 |isbn=9780307483737 }}. (Dates of founding have been given as 1816, when the national denomination was founded,{{citation |contribution='Mother Emanuel' A.M.E. Church History |contribution-url=http://www.emanuelamechurch.org/churchhistory.php |title=Official website |location=Charleston |publisher=Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church |date=2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620235612/http://www.emanuelamechurch.org/churchhistory.php|archive-date=2012-06-20}}. 1817, when Morris Brown traveled to Philadelphia to meet with Allen and other founders, and was ordained as a deacon, or 1818.){{citation |title=Bernews |url=http://bernews.com |contribution-url=http://bernews.com/2011/01/row-over-statue-to-bermudians-slave/ |contribution=Row over Statue to Bermudian's Slave |date=3 January 2011 }}.

The congregation was made up of African Americans who were former members of Charleston's three Methodist Episcopal churches.{{cite web|last1=Hardy |first1=Rachel |title=The African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina: From the "Invisible Institution" to the Indivisible Institution A Walking Tour |url=http://claw.cofc.edu/digital/tours_data/AME_Tour.pdf |website=Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World (CLAW) |publisher=College of Charleston |access-date=June 18, 2015 |year=2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618172344/http://claw.cofc.edu/digital/tours_data/AME_Tour.pdf |archive-date=June 18, 2015 |df=mdy }} Hampstead Church was considered part of the "Bethel circuit" of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the newly established, first independent black denomination in the United States. It was founded in 1816 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Richard Allen and delegates from some other black churches.

State and city ordinances at the time limited worship services by black people to daylight hours, required that a majority of congregants in a given church be white, and prohibited black literacy. In 1818, Charleston officials arrested 140 black church members and sentenced eight church leaders to fines and lashes. City officials again raided Emanuel AME Church in 1820 and 1821 in a pattern of harassment.{{Cite news |title=The Long, Troubled History of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/122070/long-troubled-history-charlestons-emanuel-ame-church |newspaper=The New Republic |date=June 18, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |issn=0028-6583 |first=Douglas R. |last=Egerton}}

In June 1822, Denmark Vesey, one of the church's founders, was implicated in an alleged slave revolt plot. Vesey and five other organizers were rapidly convicted in a show trial, and executed on July 2 after a secret trial.{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Lionel Henry |last2=Parker |first2=Thomas |title=An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes Charged with an Attempt to Raise an Insurrection in the State of South-Carolina Preceded by an Introduction and Narrative and, in an Appendix, a Report of the Trials of Four White Persons on Indictments for Attempting to Excite the Slaves to Insurrection |date=1822 |publisher=Printed by J.R. Schenck |location=Charleston [S.C.] |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/llstbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbcmisc+lst0101)) |access-date=June 22, 2015 |oclc=765819289 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212163656/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem%2Fllstbib%3A%40field%28NUMBER+%40band%28rbcmisc+lst0101%29%29 |archive-date=February 12, 2017 |url-status=dead }}

The city conducted additional trials over the following weeks, as the number of suspects increased while men were interrogated. They ultimately convicted and executed more than 30 men, and deported other suspected participants from the state, including Vesey's son. The original Emanuel AME church was burned down that year by a crowd of angry whites.{{cite news |last1=Staff |title=Nine shot, multiple fatalities reported in downtown church shooting |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC16/150619408 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |work=The Post and Courier |date=June 18, 2015 |archive-date=July 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728072115/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150617/PC16/150619408 |url-status=dead }} After the congregation met secretly for a period, it rebuilt the church after the Civil War.{{cite web |url=http://www.euronews.com/2015/06/18/us-at-least-9-dead-in-hate-crime-shooting-in-charleston/ |title=US: at least 9 killed in Charleston church massacre |work=Euronews |date=June 16, 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Payne |first1=Ed |title=Charleston church shooting: Multiple fatalities in South Carolina, source says |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/ |access-date=June 18, 2015 |publisher=CNN |date=June 18, 2015}}

Rev. Morris Brown was imprisoned for many months, though never convicted of any crime. Upon his release, he and several other prominent members fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Others managed to reconstitute the congregation in a few years.

In reaction to Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831, in 1834 the white-run city of Charleston outlawed all-black churches. The AME congregation met in secret until the end of the Civil War in 1865.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/faith/sf_churches_18.html |title=Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church |date=December 19, 2013 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |website=Reconstruction: The Second Civil War |publisher=PBS}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.ame7.org/history/pages/sc_history.htm |title=Mother Emanuel, Charleston, SC |access-date=June 17, 2015 |website=7th District AME Church, South Carolina |publisher=7th District AME Office |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618115132/http://www.ame7.org/history/pages/sc_history.htm |archive-date=June 18, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}

=After the Civil War=

File:Richard Harvey Cain.jpg]]

After the war ended, AME Bishop Daniel Payne installed the Reverend Richard H. Cain as the pastor of the congregation that would become Emanuel ("God with us") AME and Morris Brown AME{{cite web |url={{NRHP url|id=04000651}} |date=October 19, 2013 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Old Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church |first=Karen |last=Nicklass}} In 1872, after serving in the South Carolina Senate (1868–72), Cain was elected as a Republican Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, continuing a tradition of religious leaders serving in political positions.{{cite journal |last1=Peabody |first1=Alvin |title=Filling The Void: Young Ministers Seek To Replace Former Powerful Clergymen |journal=Washington Informer |date=March 23, 1994 |page=36 |location=Washington, D.C. |issn=0741-9414|id={{ProQuest|367988324}} }}

The congregation rebuilt the church between 1865 and 1872 as a wooden structure,{{cite news |date=August 27, 1995 |title=Charleston Churches Endure - They Have Kept the Faith Through Natural Disasters and 2 Wars |first=Scott |last=McCaffrey |work=Myrtle Beach Sun News }} under the lead of the architect Robert Vesey, the son of abolitionist and church co-founder Denmark Vesey. After an earthquake demolished that building in 1886, President Grover Cleveland donated ten dollars to the church to aid its rebuilding efforts. He wrote that he was "very glad to contribute something for so worthy a cause."{{cite news |work=Atlanta Constitution |date=October 27, 1886 |title=Helping to Rebuild Churches: President Cleveland Sends Money to a Colored Pastor}} A Democrat, Cleveland also donated 20 dollars to the Confederate Home, a "haven for white widows."Susan Millar Williams and Stephen G. Hoffus, Upheaval in Charleston: Earthquake and Murder on the Eve of Jim Crow, University of Georgia Press, 2011: 158.

The current brick and stucco building was constructed in 1891 on Calhoun Street.{{Cite web |title=Emanuel AME Church |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ema.htm |website=nps.gov |access-date=June 18, 2015}} This and other post-Civil War black churches were built on the north side of Calhoun Street.{{Cite web |title=Google street view photo of Calhoun Street in Charleston, showing the Emanuel AME Church, and Google map |url=http://www.geographic.org/streetview/view.php?place=120+Calhoun+St%2C+Charleston%2C+SC+29401%2C+United+States |website=geographic.org/streetview |access-date=Jan 17, 2016}} Blacks were not welcome on the south side of what was known as Boundary Street when the church was built.{{cite news |last=Samuel |first=Terence |work=U.S. News & World Report |date=October 27, 2003 |title=A New Political Gospel}} The building was designed by leading Charleston architect John Henry Devereux; the work was begun in the spring of 1891 and completed in 1892.{{cite news |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:13CCA871AD118D5A@GB3NEWS-1431E2170162153D@2412068-142CFE1585A111C0@7-1432569A606676D0@ |title=Perhaps the Best in the South |work=News and Courier |date=December 1, 1891 |access-date=July 10, 2015 |location=Charleston, South Carolina |pages=8}}

=20th century=

In March 1909, Booker T. Washington, president of Tuskegee Institute and a national leader, spoke at Emanuel AME Church.David H. Jackson Jr., "Booker T. Washington in South Carolina, March 1909." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 113.3 (July 2012): 192-220. Among the attendees were many whites, including a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and Robert Goodwyn Rhett, the mayor of Charleston; he was a lawyer and controlling owner of the News and Courier newspaper.

By 1951, the church had 2,400 members and completed a $47,000 (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|47000|1951}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) renovation project. This earned an "outstanding improvement" award from the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.{{cite news |work=The Afro-American (Baltimore) |title=Historic Landmark in Charleston |date=March 10, 1951 }}

At a 1962 church meeting, Reverends Martin Luther King Jr. and Wyatt T. Walker of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were guest speakers, urging church members to register and vote.{{cite news |work=The Afro-American (Baltimore) |title=King vote team hits Charleston |date=April 21, 1962 }} At the time, most African Americans in the South were still disenfranchised, which they had been since the turn of the century when the white-dominated legislatures passed restrictive conditions raising barriers to voter registration in new constitutions and laws. In 1969 Coretta Scott King, then widowed after King's assassination, led a march of some 1,500 demonstrators to the church in support of striking hospital workers in Charleston.{{cite news |first=Bruce |last=Golphin |title=Mrs. King to Lead Charleston March: Nixon Urged to Act In Charleston Strike |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 30, 1969 }} At the church, they faced bayonet-wielding members of the South Carolina National Guard; the church's pastor and 900 demonstrators were arrested.{{cite news |first=Meghan |last=Keneally |work=ABC News |date=June 18, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/south-carolina-church-killed-steeped-history/story?id=31849423 |title=Charleston South Carolina Church Where 9 Were Killed Was Steeped in History}}

The church building was damaged in Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Although major repairs were made, the tin roof soon rusted and leaked. It was changed out for interlocking copper shingles.{{cite news |work=The Post and Courier |title=A man at the peak of his performance |date=October 28, 1998 |first=Robert |last=Behre}}

=21st century=

As of 2008, the church had more than 1,600 members and assisted the Charleston Interfaith Crisis Ministry and other charities.{{Cite journal |title=South Carolina: A Guide to Unique Places |last1=Fox |first1=William Price |publisher=Globe Pequot |year=2008 |pages=23–24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ymKGCCWJcC&q=%22Emanuel%20African%20Methodist%20Episcopal%22&pg=PA23 |last2=McLaughlin |first2=J. Michael |journal=South Carolina: Off the Beaten Path |issn=1545-5130}} The church is involved in the local arts community, including hosting an art show in 2013 and concerts by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Gospel Choir.{{Cite news |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/african-american-artists-find-a-home-at-emanuel-ame-church/Content?oid=4747957 |title=African-American artists find a home at Emanuel AME Church |last=Pandolfi |first=Elizabeth |date=September 25, 2013 |work=Charleston City Paper|access-date = June 18, 2015 }}

In 2010, senior pastor and state senator Rev. Clementa Pinckney was noted as following in the tradition of earlier church leaders, such as the Reverend Richard H. Cain of the 19th century, in serving as both a religious and political leader.{{Cite news |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20101128/ARCHIVES/311289918 |title=Mother Emanuel AME pastor follows in footsteps of 19th-century minister-lawmaker |last=Parker |first=Adam |date=November 28, 2010 |work=The Post and Courier|access-date = June 18, 2015 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618160456/https://www.postandcourier.com/article/20101128/archives/311289918/|archive-date=2015-06-18}}

On December 31, 2012, the church held a watchnight service; they celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, 1863.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-emancipation-anniversary-idUSBRE90005520130101 |title=Watch Night marks 150th anniversary of Lincoln's proclamation |last=McLeod |first=Harriet |date=January 1, 2013 |work=Reuters|access-date = June 18, 2015 }} Charleston's annual Emancipation Day Parade on January 1 ends at Emanuel AME Church.{{Cite news |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130101/PC16/130109989 |title=Charleston Emancipation Proclamation Parade is today |last=Kropf |first=Schuyler |date=January 1, 2013 |work=The Post and Courier|access-date = June 18, 2015 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618155809/https://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130101/pc16/130109989/|archive-date=2015-06-18}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.abcnews4.com/story/24349560/parade-marks-151-years-since-emancipation-proclomation-signing |title=Parade marks 151 years since Emancipation Proclamation signing |date=January 2, 2014 |work=ABC News 4|access-date = June 18, 2015 }}{{Cite news |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150101/PC16/150109940 |title=Charleston's Emancipation Day Parade has a long and colorful history |last=Munday |first=Dave |date=January 1, 2015 |work=The Post and Courier|access-date = June 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105044237/http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150101/PC16/150109940|archive-date=2015-01-05}}

==2015 shooting==

{{Main|Charleston church shooting}}

On June 17, 2015, nine people were shot and killed inside Mother Emanuel. The victims included South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney, senior pastor, and eight members of his congregation:{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=M. Alex |title='This Was a Hate Crime': Nine People Killed at Historic South Carolina Church |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/multiple-people-shot-historic-south-carolina-church-n377436 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |work=NBC News |date=June 17, 2015}} Cynthia Hurd, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Susie Jackson, Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, and Daniel Simmons. There was a tenth victim who was also shot but survived.

Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white male, was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with nine counts of murder. The killings were investigated by state and federal law enforcement officials as a possible hate crime, and it was found that they were.{{cite news |last1=Bever |first1=Lindsey |last2=Costa |first2=Robert |title=9 dead in shooting at historic Charleston African American church. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/white-gunman-sought-in-shooting-at-historic-charleston-african-ame-church/ |access-date=June 18, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 17, 2015}} According to the FBI, Roof left a manifesto detailing his racist views on the lastrhodesian.com website before the shooting.{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/emanuel-church-in-charleston-to-re-open-as-fbi-reviews-manifesto-1.3121870 |title=Emanuel church in Charleston to re-open as FBI reviews manifesto |work=CBC News |date=June 20, 2015 |access-date=June 21, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://articlesurfing.org/men/dylann_roof_charleston_mass_shooter_manifesto.html |title=Dylann Roof, Charleston mass shooting suspect on line manifesto |work=Articlesurfing.org |date=June 20, 2015 |access-date=June 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127170345/http://www.articlesurfing.org/men/dylann_roof_charleston_mass_shooter_manifesto.html |archive-date=January 27, 2016 |df=mdy }} The church, on its own website, refers to Roof as "the stranger".Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church, [https://motheremanuel.com/our-story Our Story], accessed 1 February 2023

In December 2016, Roof was convicted of 33 federal hate crime and murder charges. On January 10, 2017, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection for those crimes.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/us/dylann-roof-sentencing/|publisher=CNN|title=Victim's dad warns Dylann Roof: 'Your creator ... he's coming for you'|access-date=April 14, 2017|date=January 11, 2017}} Roof was separately charged with nine counts of murder in the South Carolina state courts. In April 2017, Roof pleaded guilty to all nine state charges in order to avoid receiving a second death sentence, and as a result, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. While he will receive automatic appeals of his death sentence, he may eventually be executed by the federal justice system in the Terre Haute, Indiana death chamber.{{cite web|first1=Harriet|last1=McLeod|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-south-carolina-shooting-roof-idUSKBN17C15W|title=Charleston church shooter pleads guilty to state murder counts|publisher=Reuters|date=April 10, 2017|access-date=April 10, 2017}}{{cite web|first1=Andrew|last1=Knapp|first2=Abigail|last2=Darlington|url=http://www.postandcourier.com/news/dylann-roof-s-life-sentences-on-state-murder-charges-surest/article_4a8b54ec-1df1-11e7-af4f-3f880fee388b.html|title=Dylann Roof's 9 life sentences on state murder charges 'surest' route to federal execution, prosecutor says|work=Post & Courier|date=April 10, 2017|access-date=April 10, 2017}}

==After the 2015 shooting==

The Rev. Dr. Norvel Goff Sr. served as the interim pastor from June 17, 2015, until early 2016.{{Cite news |url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/charlestons-ame-church-holds-first-service-after-shooting-rev-norvel-goff-appointed-new-interim-leader-140673/ |title=Charleston's AME Church Holds First Service After Shooting; Rev. Norvel Goff Appointed New Interim Leader |last=Kumar |first=Anugrah |date=June 22, 2015 |work=The Christian Post|access-date = June 24, 2015 }} On January 23, 2016, The Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark was appointed pastor. She was the first woman to lead the congregation in its 200-year existence. Currently, The Rev. Eric C. Manning serves as Senior Pastor.

Building

Built in 1891, Emanuel AME Church has one of the few well-preserved historic church interiors in the area, with original features including the altar, communion rail, pews, and light fixtures.{{Cite news |url=http://www.charlestonchronicle.net/90491/2152/oldest-ame-church-in-the-south-starts-elevator-fund-campaign |title=Oldest AME Church in the South Starts Elevator Fund Campaign |date=December 17, 2014 |work=The Charleston Chronicle |access-date=June 17, 2015|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111153920/http://www.charlestonchronicle.net/90491/2152/oldest-ame-church-in-the-south-starts-elevator-fund-campaign|archive-date=2015-01-11}} In December 2014, the church publicized fundraising to build an elevator to make the building more accessible. A pipe organ was installed in 1902. The church has a capacity of 2,500, making it among Charleston's largest black churches. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/places/emanuel-a-m-e-church.htm|title=Emanuel A.M.E. Church|author=|date=2018|website=nps.gov|publisher=United States National Park Service|access-date=2019-11-27}}

In 2014 the building was determined to suffer from termite infestation, which had resulted in "severe structural deterioration." The church received a $12,330 federal historic preservation grant from the state of South Carolina to complete a structural investigation in May 2014.{{cite web |last=South Carolina SHPO |date=May 2014 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |title=FY 2014 Federal Historic Preservation Grants |url=http://shpo.sc.gov/programs/Documents/FY14grants.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623003647/http://shpo.sc.gov/programs/Documents/FY14grants.pdf |archive-date=June 23, 2015 |url-status=dead }}

Documentary

A producer of a documentary film, The AME Movement: African Methodism in South Carolina, that describes the history of the AME church movement in South Carolina, held a Kickstarter fundraising campaign in 2013, but failed to reach his goal. Various interviews were conducted and filmed for the documentary.{{cite news |last1=Berry Hawes |first1=Jennifer |title=AME Church seeks funds to document its 150-year history in S.C. |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20131013/PC1204/131019870 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |work=The Post and Courier |date=October 13, 2013}}{{cite web |last1=Kelly Tyler, Ph.D. |first1=Rev. Mark |title=The AME Movement: African Methodism in South Carolina |url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/693272082/the-ame-movement-african-methodism-in-south-caroli |website=Kickstarter |access-date=June 18, 2015 |date=November 17, 2013}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}