page_title: Edward M. Brawley
section_title: Early religious career
hierarchical_section_title: Edward M. Brawley / Early religious career
caption_attribution_description: English: Bouey in 1887
context_page_description: Edward MacKnight Brawley was an American educator and minister in North Carolina and South Carolina. He was the first African American to attend Bucknell University. He was an important figure in the development of the African-American church in South Carolina and the American southeast and helped found numerous churches and schools, including the Benedict Institute and Morris College. He served as president at Morris and, earlier, at Selma University. Later in his career he was a professor at Shaw University. He was also a prominent pastor at numerous churches and an important figure in civil rights and religious affairs.
context_section_description: In 1873 he was licensed to preach by the white Baptist church in Lewisburg and on July 1, 1875, he was ordained in this church and commissioned by the American Baptist Publication Society as missionary for South Carolina. Finding a lack of Sunday schools in the area, he organized Sunday school organizations and in May 1877, formed these bodies into a state Sunday School Convention, of which he became corresponding secretary and financial agent, working closely with Isaac P. Brockenton. Among his success was securing funding for the Benedict Institute and working to open missions in Africa, which resulted in the notable missionary work of Harrison N. Bouey. During this period and later he was frequently an invited and well-received speaker at the annual national convention of the American Baptist Publication Societies. After eight years, he resigned in ill health and took six months of vacation. During those eight years he helped found 550 Baptist churches in South Carolina with 350 preachers and nearly 100,000 members. In 1882, Brawley clashed with Benedict Institute president Charles E. Becker. Brawley pushed Becker and the institute to hire more black teachers and institute a local board of trustees, challenging Becker's authority.
caption: Brawley helped Harrison N. Bouey (pictured) organize missionary work and emigration to Africa in 1877.
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