Charleston budget includes $1 million for Emanuel Nine Memorial

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The city of Charleston’s 2020 budget includes $1 million for a memorial to honor nine people who were killed at Mother Emanuel AME Church when a gunman opened fire during a Bible study at the church in 2015 in Charleston.  

The Emanuel Nine Memorial will be built on the church’s grounds.

In September, the Mother Emanuel Memorial Foundation received its first major donation for the memorial from the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation which pledged $1 million. And in October, Wells Fargo gave $500,000 for the memorial, becoming the first corporate donor.

The foundation announced earlier this month a $250,000 donation from Bank of America to help construct the memorial.

“We are honored to support this important memorial dedicated to remembering and honoring the lives and sacrifices of the clergy, church members and of the survivors,” said Mark Munn, Charleston market president for Bank of America. “Our support aligns with the intention of the memorial itself to be a reflective space to join together in community, as well as to promote unity and resiliency.”

The Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, pastor of Mother Emanuel, said the church is grateful for Bank of America’s commitment to the creation of the Emanuel Nine Memorial and for the business community uniting in support of the memorial foundation.

Plans for the construction of the memorial were announced in July 2018 by the foundation. It is designed by architect Michael Arad, who also created the Sept. 11 memorial in New York, and includes a courtyard, marble fountain etched with the names of the Emanuel Nine and a survivors garden. Six stone benches and five trees will surround the garden to symbolize the five survivors, with the sixth bench signifying that the church is a survivor.