The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO REV. McKINLEY WASHINGTON, JR.
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HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN
of south carolina
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a dear friend, whose life was a testament to the biblical admonition ``faith without works is dead.'' Reverend McKinley Washington, Jr. spent his career in the pulpit while serving a quarter of a century in the South Carolina legislature. His passing on July 24, 2022, has silenced a beloved faith and community leader along the Sea Islands of South Carolina.
McKinley was one of eight children born to the late McKinley Washington, Sr. and Mattie Peterson Washington in the Stackhouse community of Sumter County, South Carolina. He graduated from Goodwill Parochial School, the same institution that educated Mary McLeod Bethune. He subsequently attended Johnson C. Smith, a historically Black college, in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, helped organize civil rights marches, and was arrested for his activism. McKinley also made time for his studies and earned a B.A. in 1961 and a master's degree in divinity from Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary in 1964.
Although both of us were born and raised in Sumter County our paths did not cross until we arrived in Charleston County around the same time in the early 1960s. He had accepted a call to pastor at Edisto Presbyterian Church and I had accepted a teaching position in the Charleston County public school system. We both became actively engaged in local politics and it was not long before we and our wives became great friends.
He was young, energetic, and determined to make a difference in his community and throughout the Sea Islands of Charleston County. In Charleston he rekindled his activism, establishing the Edisto Branch of the NAACP, helping to stand up the Franklin Fetter federally qualified community health center, and later, the Sea Island Comprehensive Health Care Corp.
When I left the classroom and became a Counselor with the Charleston County Employment Security Commission in 1965 and later Director of the Charleston County Neighborhood Youth Corps and New Careers project, McKinley helped in my effort to get part time jobs for high school students and work experiences for high school dropouts. Our signature effort came through the creation of a Talent Search project that sent hundreds of low-income high school graduates to colleges and universities across the country. Most of those students went to Wilberforce University in Ohio. Among them were Larry Whaley pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church and the Rev. Nelson Rivers, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church and Vice President of National Action Network who is a dynamic faith leader in his own right.
It was during this time that McKinley became an active board member of the South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, an agency created to aid migrants and seasonal farm workers. After some fits and starts, that Commission hired me to be their Executive Director in 1968.
McKinley and I bonded, and he became my go-to guy. We worked together to develop an adult education project, a Self-Help housing program, and he helped me form a rural version of the Talent Search concept to provide opportunities to the children of migrants and seasonal farm workers.
After working in the trenches to improve the quality of life for his community, McKinley decided he could better serve his community by running for public office. Although he lost his first campaign for the State House of Representatives, he ran again during a special election and won; He went on to represent District 116 in the House from 1975 to 1989, and then served in the State Senate representing District 45 from 1990 to 2000. He continued his public service after 25 years in the State legislature by serving an additional eight years on the S.C. Employment Security Commission.
His career in public service was marked by his dedication to issues of equity and justice. McKinley was always focused on providing for,
``the least of these,'' and communities that have been historically neglected. To honor his service, the modern bridge that connects Edisto Island to the mainland is named in his honor. It is a fitting tribute to the man who spent his life building bridges and solving problems.
Throughout his public service and community work, McKinley served 50 years as pastor of Edisto Presbyterian Church until his retirement in 2012. His faith informed his service and was at the core of who he was as leader. McKinley met Beulah Jeffries, the love of his life while at Johnson C. Smith, and the two became the proud parents of Michael and Katrina, and grandparents of two grandchildren.
Madam Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in celebrating the life and legacy of McKinley Washington, Jr. May we all learn from the example of this outstanding South Carolinian, born during the Jim Crow era in the ghettoized Stackhouse Place community of Sumter County, South Carolina who went on to live a transformational life. It has been one of my life's blessed experiences to call him a dear friend.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 125(1), Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 125(2)
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