More than 11 years after nine worshippers were killed during a Wednesday night Bible study at Emanuel AME Church, the project honoring their names finally has an opening date.
The Mother Emanuel Memorial Foundation announced Sept. 15 that the Emanuel Nine Memorial Courtyard will open to the public on Nov. 14. The site sits directly next to the church at 110 Calhoun St., a location that has drawn steady visitors even as construction fencing lined the property.
The centerpiece is a fountain the foundation calls the Fountain of Grace. Its stone surface carries the names of the nine victims inscribed in alphabetical order: The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Graham Hurd, Ethel Lee Lance, Susie Jackson, The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, The Rev. and S.C. Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, The Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr. and Myra Quarles Thompson.
Two grand marble benches, curving walls and a cross frame the courtyard, giving the space room for private reflection and for community gatherings. The design is the work of Michael Arad, the architect behind the National September 11 Memorial in New York.
A second phase remains on the drawing board. Foundation plans call for a survivors’ garden on the north side of the church honoring the five people who survived the 2015 attack. Foundation fundraising materials put the remaining need at roughly $5 million, covering completion of the garden, long-term grounds maintenance, educational programming and an endowment.
More details about the Nov. 14 opening events, including any community program tied to the ceremony, are expected in the coming weeks. The courtyard is the first physical marker to permanently identify the site as one of the most consequential locations in the modern civil rights and gun violence eras.
