by Herb Frazier
Bernard E. Powers Jr. is professor of history at the College of Charleston, where he teaches United States and African American history. He has been a consultant to historic sites and served on the boards of history-oriented nonprofits, such as the Historic Charleston Foundation and Charleston’s International African American Museum. Powers has been seen in PBS films, such as “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” and “Slavery and the Making of America” and has served as manuscript referee for academic presses and journals. His work on African American social history has been published in book chapters, journals, and encyclopedias. One article was selected for republication by the South Carolina Historical Magazine in its Articles from a Century of Excellence Centennial, volume 1900–2000. He has been an associate editor for the South Carolina Encyclopedia and editor of “The Legacy of African American Leadership” for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Powers’s major publication is Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822–1885, which won a Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award. He is presently conducting research on African Methodism in South Carolina.
Marjory Wentworth’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times. Her books of poetry include Noticing Eden, Despite Gravity, The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle, and New and Selected Poems. She is the cowriter with Juan Mendez of Taking a Stand: The Evolution of Human Rights, coeditor with Kwame Dawes of Seeking: Poetry and Prose Inspired by the Art of Jonathan Green, and the author of the prizewinning children’s story Shackles. She is the cofounder and former president of the Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts. She serves on the editorial board of the University of South Carolina’s Palmetto Poetry Series, and she is the poetry editor for Charleston Currents. Her work is included in the South Carolina Poetry Archives at Furman University, and she is the poet laureate of South Carolina.
PHOTOS
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Rev. Richard Allen, first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1823
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A crowd gathered outside the Mother Emanuel Church, following a nearby prayer service, June 19, 2015
REUTERS/Randall Hill
A family member at the burial of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, St James AME Church, Marion, SC, June 26, 2015
REUTERS/Jason Miczek
Jay Bender held an anti-Confederate flag sign during a rally at the SC State House, June 20, 2015
Joel Woodhall
Local leaders and community members united in a prayer circle during the early morning hours of June 18, 2015
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Singleton family
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
Courtesy of the Graham family
Cynthia Graham Hurd
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Jackson family
Susie Jackson
Courtesy of the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
Bishop Daniel A. Payne, founder of the South Carolina Conference of the AME Church, circa 1870–90
Herb Frazier
A bronze statue of Denmark Vesey stands a short distance from the entrance to the Citadel
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A group held hands and prayed outside Mother Emanuel, June 19, 2015
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Lance family
Ethel Lance
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Doctor family
Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of Rev. Clementa Pinckney
Rev. Clementa Carlos Pinckney
REUTERS/Grace Beahm
Rev. Richard Harkness (L) and Rev. Jack Lewin (R) sang with the congregation, “We Shall Overcome,” during a prayer vigil at Morris Brown AME Church, Charleston, SC, June 18, 2015
©Richard Ellis. All Rights Reserved.
A makeshift memorial outside Mother Emanuel grew as people remembered the Emanuel Nine
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, 1829
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Sanders family
Tywanza Sanders
Charleston Chronicle/Courtesy of the Simmons family
Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr.
Courtesy of the Thompson family
Myra Thompson
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Malana Pinckney, daughter of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, gazed at President Barack Obama at the start of her father’s eulogistic service, Charleston, SC, June 26, 2015
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Barack Obama spoke at Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s funeral service, Charleston, SC, June 26, 2015
