The Gothic Revival church building at 110 Calhoun Street was constructed in 1891-1892 to house the congregation known today as Emanuel African American Methodist Episcopal (AME), founded in 1818.[1] The historically African American church is the oldest Black congregation in the southeast and is associated with a number of Charleston’s most significant civil rights events and figures. [2] Often referred to as “Mother Emanuel,” the church’s colloquial name stems from the congregation’s relationship to its “daughter” church, Mount Zion AME, which formed in 1882 in response to a rapidly growing number of parishioners at Emanuel.[3]
The current church building on Calhoun Street is the third house of worship built and occupied by the Emanuel AME congregation since the church was founded in 1818; the first was located at the corner of Hanover and Reid Streets, and the second and third on the present Calhoun Street site. The first church building erected by the congregation on Calhoun Street was built shortly after the Civil War and destroyed in the earthquake of 1886. At this time, the congregation hired Charleston’s preeminent postbellum architect, John Henry Devereux, to design the current three-story brick church building with a prominent four-story steeple.[4] Typical of the Gothic Revival style, the church building features a steeply pitched roof, arched openings, buttresses, and intricate brick detailing. Construction began in 1891, but before the building was complete, it was significantly damaged by a cyclone in 1893, delaying its dedication until 1901. The building was extensively renovated in 1949-1951, at which time the masonry exterior was stuccoed and painted white, the front double stair was added, and several window openings on the Calhoun Street façade were infilled. Notably, the sanctuary largely retains its original floorplan and many interior features, a rarity among other Victorian era churches in the city.[5]
The congregation itself dates to the early-19th century when more than 4,000 free and enslaved Black Charlestonians seceded from the white Methodist Church to found their own branch of the AME Church under the leadership of Reverend Morris Brown.[6] Upon the church’s founding in 1818, City officials began persecuting the congregation for violating local laws intended to prevent large gatherings of African Americans. In 1822, this tumultuous period in the congregation’s history escalated when church member and community leader, Denmark Vesey, was accused of planning a revolution to free all enslaved people in Charleston and lead a mass emigration to Haiti.[7] Inciting panic among white Charlestonians, Vesey was ultimately executed along with 34 other Black Charlestonians found guilty of participation in the alleged conspiracy. In the aftermath, the City ordered the demolition of the original church building, located north of the city limits in Hampstead Village at the corner of Hanover and Reid Streets, representing a deliberate attempt to dismantle a symbol of Black independence.[8] The congregation was then forced underground by an 1834 law explicitly prohibiting the formation and gathering of Black churches in Charleston, but was officially reorganized by the end of the Civil War, at which time the name Emanuel AME Church was adopted.[9]
During the 20th century, Emanuel AME became a center of African American life in Charleston, serving as prominent space for corporate worship, social gatherings, and political assembly. The church hosted key civil rights leaders including, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, and served as an important site for organization during the Kress Sit-In of 1960, and the Hospital Strike of 1969.[10]
As a site with both local and national significance to civil rights history, the Emanuel AME congregation tragically became the target of an act of racial terrorism that led to the death of nine African American church members on June 17, 2015: Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Rev. Depayne Middleton Doctor, Rev. Daniel Simmons, and Myra Thompson. On June 26, 2015, President Barack Obama delivered remarks in eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney, Senior Pastor of Mother Emanuel AME and a member of the South Carolina Senate, at the College of Charleston’s TD Arena.
In the wake of unspeakable tragedy, the Emanuel AME congregation continues to serve as a national leader in the promotion of open dialogue on issues of racial justice and reconciliation. Similarly, the iconic image of the steeple disseminated widely across media platforms since 2015 has become a symbol of hope and unity in 21st century American culture. This serves as a reminder that historic buildings are more than physical spaces; they embody memory and human stories, and provide a platform for community conversation not only about the past, but vision for the future.
Click the images below to explore the Emanuel AME Church gallery.
[1] Found, Jill. “SC Historic Properties Record: National Register Listing: Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church [S10817710196].” Accessed June 25, 2019. https://schpr.sc.gov/index.php/Detail/properties/47715.
[2] “Emanuel A.M.E Church.” National Parks Service. Accessed March 2, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/places/emanuel-a-m-e-church.htm
[3] “History of Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church” compiled and edited by Mrs. Harriett Simpson and Mrs. Alexis Alexander. https://www.mtzioncharlestoname.org/our-heritage8
[4] Jonathan Poston, The Buildings of Charleston: A Guide to the City’s Architecture, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997
[5] National Register Nomination, https://schpr.sc.gov/index.php/Detail/properties/47715.
[6] Stockton, “Origins of Emanuel Church Date to Late 18th Century;” Poston, The Buildings of Charleston; Phillip Stone, “Methodism and Slavery.” From the Archives (blog), May 1, 2017. http://blogs. Stockton, “Origins of Emanuel Church Date to Late 18th Century;” wofford.edu/from_the_archives/2017/05/01/from-the-archives-methodism-and-slavery/.
[7] Authority of the Corporation of Charleston, Negro Plot: An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a Portion of the Blacks of the City of Charleston, South Carolina. (Boston: Joseph W. Ingraham, 1822), 30.
[8] Stockton, “Origins of Emanuel Church Date to Late 18th Century;” William A. Caldwell, “Lumber Sale Ad.” City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, August 14, 1822, sec. A pg. 3; Douglas R Egerton and Robert L Paquette, eds., The Denmark Vesey Affair: A Documentary History, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017, 667.
[9] Stockton, “Origins of Emanuel Church Date to Late 18th Century;” Found “SC Historic Properties Record.”
[10] Found, “SC Historic Properties Record;” Glenn Robertson, “Negroes Here Asked to Boycott 3 Stores.” The News and Courier. April 7, 1960; “Negro Youth Picket Local Variety Stores,” The News and Courier, July 28, 1960; “65 Attend Meeting of NAACP.” The News and Courier. July 24, 1965, sec. B pg. 12. “Julian Bond to Speak Here July 31.” Charleston Evening Post, July 5, 1966, sec. B pg. 3. Jules Loh, “Strike Was Beginning for New Alliance.” The News and Courier. August 24, 1969, sec. A pg. 12.
<!– Today occupied by a small playground, the southwest corner of Beaufain and Wilson Streets was once the site of the first church building to house Calvary Episcopal Church, the oldest African American Episcopal congregation in Charleston.[1] Calvary Church, now located at 106 Line Street, was established in 1847 by the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina for the religious instruction of free and enslaved African Americans in Charleston, separate from white parishioners. For nearly a century, Calvary’s original church building served as an important spiritual center for much of Charleston’s Black community. However, in 1961, Calvary Church was demolished as a result of redevelopment pressure that disproportionately impacted historically Black neighborhoods and institutions in Charleston during the mid-20th century.
Constructed in the Early Classical Revival Style in 1849, the design of Calvary Church represented a combination of Greek and Roman influences.[2] Built of brick with a white stucco finish, the one-story church building accommodated up to 400 people.[3] The front façade featured a broad entablature and pediment over a paneled door with an elliptical fanlight flanked on each side by Tuscan pilasters and semicircular niches. Full-height, triple-hung windows spanned the east and west facades, with a semicircular apse located at the rear. [4]
The congregation faced one of its earliest, and most severe trials before the construction of the church was complete. On July 13, 1849, a riot began at the Charleston Work House, a notorious penal institution utilized primarily for the punishment of enslaved people, located less than one block away from Calvary. Led by an enslaved man named Nicholas, approximately 37 prisoners temporarily escaped the Work House, inciting the panic and anger of the white community.[5] The day following the riot, a mob of white Charlestonians assembled in an attempt to destroy the church in retaliation; while the Calvary Church congregation was closely surveilled by an all-white clergy, many in the community viewed the founding of Calvary Church as a dangerous and unprecedented allowance of Black independence, and sought its destruction.[6] Notably, violence was quelled by prominent local attorney James L. Petigru, known for openly representing free people of color, who convinced the mob not to destroy the church.[7]
On December 23, 1849, Calvary Church was consecrated by Rev. Christopher Gadsden, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of SC.[8] By the end of the following decade, Calvary had one of the largest Sunday School programs in the city, and eventually claimed the membership of some of Charleston’s most prominent African American citizens, like Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright. Calvary’s growth continued into the early 20th century. By 1940, however, neighborhood demographics in the area now known as Harleston Village were shifting toward a predominantly white population, resulting in the loss of congregants at Calvary. Simultaneously, the Housing Authority of Charleston began pressuring the congregation to relocate as the newly-constructed, white, housing project, Robert Mills Manor, surrounded the church on all sides.[9] As a result, the congregation ultimately purchased a piece of property at 106 Line Street as the new location for the church, where services are still held today. On November 25, 1940, the last service was held at Calvary Church on Beaufain Street.[10]
Following relocation, old Calvary Church stood vacant for 20 years until the Housing Authority submitted a request for demolition on April 29, 1960. In spite of community opposition to the request, all attempts to save the Church from demolition ultimately failed and after being deemed unsafe, Calvary was razed in August, 1961.[11]
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[1] K. R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church: Extension of Robert Mills Manor Forces Negro Episcopal Congregation to Vacate 90-Year-Old Building,” The Charleston News and Courier, July 22, 1940.
[2] Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile,” n.d., http://www.episcopalchurchsc.org/uploads /1/2/9/8/12989303/calvary_episcopal_church_profile.pdf.; K. R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church.”
[3] “Calvary Church, Charleston, in Beaufain-Street.,” Charleston Gospel Messenger and Protestant Episcopal Register (1842-1853), January 1850.; Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”
[4] Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile,” n.d., http://www.episcopalchurchsc.org/uploads /1/2/9/8/12989303/calvary_episcopal_church_profile.pdf.; K. R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church.”
[5] Bernard E. Powers, Black Charlestonians, 17.
[6] Bernard E. Powers, Black Charlestonians, 17.; Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”; K.R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church.”; Robert F. Durden, “The Establishment of Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church for Negroes in Charleston,” 77.
[7] Bernard E. Powers, Black Charlestonians, 17.; Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”; K.R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church.”; Robert F. Durden, “The Establishment of Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church for Negroes in Charleston,” 77.
[8] Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”
[9] Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”; Edward G. Lilly, ed., Historic Churches of Charleston, South Carolina, 131.; K.R., “Do You Know Your South Carolina: Calvary Church.”; “71 Beaufain Street (Calvary Chapel) – Property File,” Charleston Past Perfect, accessed June 9, 2020, https://charleston.pastperfectonline.com/archive/2A7D91C8-2A24-473F-AB0F-052572729247.
[10] Calvary Episcopal Church, “Calvary Episcopal Church Profile.”; Edward G. Lilly, ed., Historic Churches of Charleston, South Carolina, 131.
[11] Barbara J. Stambaugh, “Calvary Chapel Demolition Ordered by City Officials: Attempts to Preserve Church Fail.”
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