Clementa C. Pinckney
| Clementa C. Pinckney | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the South Carolina Senate from the 45th district |
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In office January 2001 – June 17, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | McKinley Washington |
| Succeeded by | Margie Bright Matthews |
| Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 122nd district |
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In office January 1997 – January 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Juanita Mitchell White |
| Succeeded by | Thayer Rivers |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Clementa Carlos Pinckney July 30, 1973 Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | June 17, 2015 (aged 41) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Resting place | Saint James Cemetery Marion, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Jennifer Pinckney |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
Allen University University of South Carolina, Columbia Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Wesley Theological Seminary |
| Religion | African Methodist Episcopal |
Clementa Carlos "Clem" Pinckney (July 30, 1973 – June 17, 2015) was a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his death in 2015. He was previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000.
Pinckney was a senior pastor at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston. On June 17, 2015, Pinckney was murdered by Dylann Roof in a racially-motivated mass shooting at an evening Bible study at his church.U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at Pinckney's memorial nine days later.
Clementa Carlos Pinckney was born on July 30, 1973 in Beaufort, South Carolina. 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 could possibly 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.
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