Remembering the victims of the Emanuel AME Church massacre, 5 years later
Nine people were murdered inside Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015. They were ministers, a librarian, parents and grandparents, a track coach, a recent college graduate. On the fifth anniversary of their deaths, we remember them.
Cynthia Hurd worked as a librarian for 31 years and was regional manager of the St. Andrews branch of the Charleston County Public Library. She also served on the Charleston Housing Authority. She was 54.
Susie Jackson was a longtime member of Emanuel AME Church who sang in the choir and had planned to travel with other church members to Chicago the week she was killed. Her cousin, Ethel Lance, also was killed. She was 87.
Ethel Lance was a Charleston native who raised five children and worked as a custodian at the church for about 30 years and retired as a custodian from Charleston’s Gaillard Center. She was 70.
The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor was a mother to four daughters and an admissions coordinator at Southern Wesleyan University’s Charleston learning center. She was 49.
The Rev. Clementa Pinckney was the church’s pastor of 15 years and a state lawmaker of two decades, representing Jasper County in the S.C. Senate. Earlier in 2015, Pinckney helped build support for a bill that would pave the way for S.C. police officers to have body cameras. He was 41.
Tywanza Sanders, a 2014 Allen University graduate, described himself as a poet, artist and businessman. Hours before his death, he shared his final post on social media, a quote from Jackie Robinson. It read: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” He was 26. His mother, Felicia Sanders, was one of the survivors.
The Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. was known as “Super Simmons” by his loved ones. He was a fourth-generation AME pastor who also had worked at at the S.C. Department of Corrections as a teacher and a counselor. He was 74.
The Rev. Sharonda Singleton was a mother of three and was a part-time minister at Emanuel AME Church. She also worked as a speech pathologist at Goose Creek High School, where she also coached the girls track team. She was 45.
Myra Thompson was a pastor at Emanuel. The mother of two was leading the Wednesday night Bible study for the first time the evening she was killed. She was 59.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Remembering the victims of the Emanuel AME Church massacre, 5 years later."
