Bishop Ronnie Elijah Brailsford Sr. Reflects on the Civil Rights Era

On June 28, 2022, Bishop Ronnie Elijah Brailsford, Sr., the 136th elected and consecrated bishop in the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was installed as the President of the Council of Bishops for the Connectional Church. In the weeks leading up to the installation, Bishop Brailsford was interviewed by Dr. Bobby Donaldson, Executive Director of the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research. Bishop Brailsford shared memories of the civil rights struggle in his hometown of Summerton, South Carolina, including the impact of the Briggs v. Elliott school desegregation lawsuit, his great-grandfather Ladson “Babe” Stukes, and a community that shaped a powerful chapter in the nation’s Civil Rights Movement.