Reverend Stephen Bradford Mackey papers

Reverend Stephen Bradford Mackey

Stephen Bradford McIver Mackey was born August 1, 1901 in Summerville, South Carolina, to Samuel Benjamin and Emma Nelson Mackey. He received his early training in the Alston Elementary School in Summerville, completing high school and junior college at St. Augustine's Junior College, Raleigh, North Carolina. Mackey obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, in 1929 and a Bachelor of Theology degree from the Philadelphia Divinity School of the Episcopal Church in 1933. He was awarded the Master of Divinity degree in 1971.

Upon his return to South Carolina, Mackey was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1934 and priest in June 1935. He served the Diocese throughout his ministry as priest-in-charge of Epiphany Church in Summerville (1934-1940), as rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, Charleston (1940-1972), and priest-in-charge of St. Andrew's Church, Charleston (1940-1972). Mackey was made the rector emeritus of Calvary Episcopal Church upon his retirement in 1972.

Reverend Mackey was the Executive Secretary for Negro Work of the Diocese (1940-1944) and Archdeacon for Negro Work (1944-1988). He was appointed an honorary Archdeacon of the Diocese in 1972.

In 1940, Reverend Mackey was appointed Executive Secretary of Camp Baskervill part of Holy-Cross-Faith Memorial Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island. He eventually became a director and member of the Board of Managers. Under his leadership the bunk and staff houses, pool facilities, recreation center, and the dining hall buildings were built. In 1976, Bunk House Number Two was dedicated in Reverend Mackey's honor.

Mackey served on the board of directors of the Mayor's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, the Family Service of Charleston, Voorhees College, McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital, and the Commission on Mutual Responsibility and Interdependency in the Body of Christ.

Mackey married the former Naomi Elrita Richardson (1909-1996) of Sumter in 1934. Naomi Mackey taught at the Calvary Day School prior to her tenure at Rhett Elementary School. She served as Calvary's President of the Woman's Auxiliary, and President of the Negro Branch of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Diocese of South Carolina. Mrs. Mackey was also a member and former President of the Gamma Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a Golden Life member of the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club.

Calvary Episcopal Church

Calvary Church was founded in 1847 as a church for the enslaved in the Charleston community. This idea paralleled the thoughts of many people that there was a need to evangelize the slaves in the decades after 1820. At the 58th Annual Convention of the Diocese of the Vestry of St. Phillip's Church introduced resolutions pointing to the religious instruction of Charleston's slave population. A committee was established to purchase a lot at the corner of Beaufain and Wilson Streets for $1,200.

In the 1930s, a New Deal housing development program through the Charleston Housing Authority sought to acquire the land for the expansion of the Robert Mills Manor housing project. The housing development had practically surrounded Calvary Church and "preempted that section" of Charleston from the constituency of the Church. The property was sold to the Housing Authority with the proceeds used to build the present church at Line and Percy Streets. Services ended at the old building on November 1940 and the church was eventually demolished.

In 1940, the Reverend Stephen Mackey was elected Rector of Calvary and appointed Archdeacon for the black ministries of the Diocese in 1944. The new church was built on 106 Line Street where Calvary already owned a lot with a graveyard and was able to secure a deed on an adjoining lot. Calvary Church functioned as a parish under incorporation laws of the State of South Carolina and was admitted into the Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina on May 5, 1965.

The church maintains the Calvary Church Kindergarten Group, which was previously the only pre-school and kindergarten for African American children in Charleston.