Memorial Will Honor People Killed at Mother Emanuel AME

By Kenrya Rankin Jun 19, 2017

On June 17, 2015, self-described White supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine Black people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. On the two-year anniversary of that massacre, church officials announced that Michael Arad—the person who designed the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero—will create a structure in memory of its nine fallen members.

“This memorial on the grounds of the church will help keep the memory of the Emanuel 9 alive and honor the resilience of the families, survivors and church members,” Reverend Eric S.C. Manning, pastor of Mother Emanuel, said in an announcement. “It is our hope that [Arad’s] work on our memorial will evoke the weight of the tragedy as well as send an inspiring mandate for positive change to the world.”

The Charleston, South Carolina, memorial will be financed in part via a fund created by local real estate business, The Beach Company. It has collected $40,530 of the $1 million goal.