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"B" is for Brawley, Edward McKnight (1851-1923)

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"B" is for Brawley, Edward McKnight (1851-1923). Missionary, educator. Born in Charleston, a free person of color, Brawley was educated in Philadelphia and studied theology at Howard University. He graduated from Bucknell College and was ordained a Baptist minister.

The American Baptist Publication Society hired him to perform missionary work in South Carolina. Although there were numerous black Baptist congregations, there was no statewide organization. In 1876 Brawley organized the Colored Baptist Educational, Missionary, and Sunday School Convention. He also raised funds for Benedict College and served on its faculty. After serving as president of a black college in Alabama, he returned to South Carolina and settled in Sumter. In 1908, he founded Morris College and served as its first president. Edward McKnight Brawley devoted much effort to promoting missionary activities in Africa, especially Liberia.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.