COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nearly a decade after nine worshippers were killed during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, their names still echo through prayers, purpose, and now, a permanent tribute.
On Saturday, family and friends of the Emanuel Nine gathered at Allen University in Columbia for the unveiling of nine bronze busts, honoring the lives lost in the June 17, 2015, mass shooting.
The victims were the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Daniel Simmons, the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Ethel Lance, Tywanza Sanders, and Myra Thompson…