Pinckney, Clementa Carlos

Pinckney was born July 30, 1973 in Beaufort . The son of Topia Aikens (née Brums; 1945-2005), a child educator, and John Pinkney ^[2] .

He began to preach in the church from the age of 13 and by the age of 18 he was appointed pastor.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Allen University in 1995 and continued his studies to earn a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Carolina in 1999 . He then received a master of theology from the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Southerners. Pinckney also studied at Wesley's Theological Seminary as a clergy doctor.

Pinckney preached in Beaufort, Charleston and Columbia . In 2010, he became pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Mother Emmanuel in Charleston. ^[3]

Pinckney was among several pastors in South Carolina who held rallies after the execution of Walter Scott in 2015 and led to brief fights.

Pinckney was first elected to the General Assembly of South Carolina in 1996 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest African American state legislator. He served in the House of Representatives until his election to the Senate in 2000.

As a state senator, Pinckney lobbied for police and other law enforcement requirements for wearing cameras after unarmed African-American Walter Scott was killed by a police officer with eight shots in the back in North Charleston.

In 1999, Pinckney married Jennifer Benjamin in Augusta , whom he met while studying at Allen University, and she was at the University of South Carolina. The couple lived in the city of Ridgeland and they had two daughters: Eliana and Malana. Pinckney was a member of the historic black brotherhood of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Pinckney spent the early part of his last day, June 17, 2015 , participating in the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Charleston ^[4] . That evening, he taught the Bible and prayers at a session of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Mother Emmanuel. The shooter, identified as Dylanne Roof, opened fire on parishioners, killing Pinckney and eight others. ^[5] While the FBI launched an investigation into the massacre and classified it as a hate crime, many others considered this attack an act of racial terrorism and criticized law enforcement and the media for not attributing it to such ^[6] .