Clementa C. Pinckney

His mother, Theopia Stevenson Aikens (née Brooms; 1945–2005), was an early childhood development educator, and his father, John Pinckney, was an auto mechanic.

Pinckney had at least six brothers and sisters.

He began preaching at his church at age 13 and, by age 18, he was appointed pastor.

Pinckney's maternal family, the Stevensons, has many generations of pastors in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC).

His maternal great-grandfather, Reverend Lorenzo Stevenson, brought a lawsuit against the state's Democratic Party to end unintegrated primaries.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Pinckney's maternal uncle, Reverend Levern Stevenson, worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to desegregate school buses, and sued South Carolina Governor John C. West to create single-member districts to help elect more blacks into the South Carolina General Assembly.

Pinckney's paternal family are based in the Beaufort, South Carolina, area and may be descendants of slaves owned by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was instrumental in framing the United States Constitution and was part of the Middleton-Rutledge-Pinckney family, a family that included many politicians.

The Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge is where the plantation was located.

Pinckney went to Jasper County High School, where he was elected class president for two years.

Clementa Carlos Pinckney (July 30, 1973 – June 17, 2015) was an American politician and pastor who served as a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his murder in 2015.

Clementa Carlos Pinckney was born on July 30, 1973, in Beaufort, South Carolina.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allen University in 1995 and went on to obtain a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of South Carolina in 1999.

He then received a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.

Pinckney was a student at Wesley Theological Seminary pursuing a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree at the time of his death.

Pinckney preached in Beaufort, Charleston, and Columbia.

In 1996, Pinckney became the youngest African-American man elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at the age of twenty-three.

While serving in the Senate, Pinckney was an advocate for civil rights.

He prominently supported body cameras after the death of Walter Scott, and gained controversy after holding a rally about his death.

He also unsuccessfully proposed a bill that would display the Pan-African flag at the South Carolina State House.

Pinckney was also a senior pastor at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston.

Pinckney was first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1996 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest African American elected as a South Carolina state legislator.

He was previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000.

Pinckney was born to a large family with six siblings in Beaufort, South Carolina.

He began preaching at church at age thirteen and was appointed pastor at age eighteen.

He graduated from several universities, including Allen University, and the University of South Carolina.

He was also educated at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, and the Wesley Theological Seminary.

He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives until being elected to the South Carolina Senate in 2000.

Pinckney was a Democrat and was a member of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus.

Pinckney represented Allendale, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper Counties in South Carolina.

At the time of his death, he was on the following Committees: Banking and Insurance, Corrections and Penology, Education, Finance, and Medical Affairs.

As a state senator, Pinckney pushed for laws to require police and other law enforcement officials to wear body cameras after Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, was shot eight times in the back by a police officer in North Charleston.

He became pastor of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2010.

As part of his work, Pinckney oversaw 17 churches in the area.

In his leadership position at Mother Emanuel, Pinckney followed in the footsteps of Reverend Richard H. Cain and other AME church leaders, continuing a tradition of religious leaders serving in political positions with a focus on political activism in service to his community.

Pinckney said he felt a deep connection between serving his community in politics in complement to his ministry work.

Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. featured Pinckney in interviews for his award-winning PBS series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.

In 2015, Pinckney was assassinated by white supremacist Dylann Roof in a racially motivated terrorist mass shooting at an evening Bible study at his church.

President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy and sang "Amazing Grace" at Pinckney's funeral nine days later.

Pinckney was among several South Carolina pastors to hold rallies after the shooting of Walter Scott in 2015, attracting some local controversy.

In April 2015, Pinckney gave an impassioned speech on the topic at the South Carolina Senate, citing the fact that national news had come to North Charleston because of the video tape of the incident.