The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, Lowcountry Africana and the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture created an online exhibition, “A Tribute to the Mother Emanuel Church,” developed in partnership with the Emanuel A.M.E. Church and the church’s Memorabilia Subcommittee. This online tribute documents local and national responses to the tragic mass shooting that took place at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church, also known as Mother Emanuel, on June 17, 2015, in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Through photographs from a range of sources, this visual account reveals an overwhelming outpouring of emotion and grief for the victims, survivors, and their families, as well as powerful efforts in the weeks and months following the shooting to address racial injustice and violence.
Memorabilia left outside of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church. Photograph by Brandon Coffey, June 29, 2015, Charleston, South Carolina.
With more than 200 photographs generously contributed by professional photographers, news outlets and individuals on social media, this freely accessible online tribute highlights images of the memorabilia left by visitors to Mother Emanuel in the aftermath of the tragedy. These materials include flowers, letters, candles and artwork as well as banners, posters, and boards covered in messages of support. The project also features images of the many prayer vigils, marches and protests against symbols such as the Confederate flag that took place in the Charleston area and around the country following the shooting.
Visitors stop outside the Emanuel A.M.E. Church to pay their respects. Photograph by Delane Chavez, June 20, 2015, Charleston, South Carolina.
“A Tribute to the Mother Emanuel Church” was funded in part by the College of Charleston’s Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), supported by a major grant from Google. The mission of RSJI is to promote public awareness and dialogue about race and social justice issues in the Charleston area, the state of South Carolina and beyond, through a collaborative effort led by the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, Addlestone Library, the African American Studies Program, the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI) and multiple community partners.
The LDHI is a digital public history project hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston. In partnership with the Avery Research Center and the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program, LDHI’s mission is to facilitate the development of projects that highlight underrepresented race, class, gender and labor histories within the Lowcountry region and the historically interconnected Atlantic World.
Black Lives Matter marchers on their way to the Daughters of the Confederacy building on Meeting Street. Photograph by Hunter Boone, June 20, 2015, Charleston, South Carolina.
Featured image: Attendees singing at the Morris Brown AME Church Community Prayer Vigil the day after the shooting in 2016. Photo by Mike Ledford, June 18, 2015, Charleston, South Carolina.
