Rev. Joseph Anthom Darby Jr.

On August 8, 2025, the Reverend Joseph Anthom Darby Jr., pastor of Nichols Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, civil rights and social justice advocate, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, friend and community leader, transitioned from labor to reward.

Reverend Darby, the only child of Mr. Joseph A. Darby Sr. and Mrs. Eloise M. Janerette Darby, was born on August 7, 1951, in Columbia, SC, and raised in the Wheeler Hill community. He was known as “Joe” to his friends, “Anthom” to those who grew up with him, and “Papa Joe” to his four grandchildren. Reverend Darby graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1969. He attended South Carolina State College, where he was a member of the illustrious Marching 101 Band, and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of South Carolina in 1973. During this time, he met and married the former Mary Bright of Walterboro, SC, while they were college students at USC and Columbia College, respectively.

Before entering full-time ministry, Reverend Darby held positions as an adult eligibility worker for the Department of Public Welfare and an employment counselor for a youth opportunity program. He was also a juvenile probation counselor for 13 years for the SC Department of Juvenile Justice.

Rev. Darby was called to the ministry in 1974 and prepared himself for the work and life of itinerant ministry by attending the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. A fourth-generation minister in the AME Church in South Carolina, he continued the legacy of his great-great-grandfather, the Rev. Ivory W. Johnson, who helped build the denomination and faith in the state in the waning days of the Civil War.

Rev. and Mrs. Darby served AME Church congregations in the Seventh Episcopal District for 48 years, including pastoral appointments at Piney Grove AME Church, Gaston; Pleasant Spring AME Church, Columbia; Pine Grove AME Church, Columbia; Saint Philip AME Church, Eastover; Morris Brown AME Church, Charleston; and, most recently, Nichols Chapel AME Church, Charleston. He also served as presiding elder of the Beaufort District of the AME Church from 2013 to 2018.

Reverend Darby served the AME Church in several capacities over his career, including chairman of the Episcopal District Board of Trustees, coordinator of the Seventh Episcopal District Sons of Allen Men’s Fellowship, and registrar for the Palmetto Annual Conference Board of Ministerial Training.

He served the religious community as president of both the Greater Columbia Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the Greater Columbia Interfaith Clergy Association, and first co-president of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry. Darby served as a board member for the Reid House of Christian Service; the Family Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit’s Drug Court Program; a member of the State Superintendent of Education's African-American Achievement Committee; a member of the Racial Cultural Advisory Council of the SC School Boards Association; a member of the Daniel J. Jenkins Institute for Children; and a leader of the Christian-Jewish Council of Charleston.

Reverend Darby offered words of prayer and encouragement at important points in our state and nation’s history, including the January 2003 inauguration of SC Governor Mark Sanford; the opening prayer to the 103rd session of the United States Congress in May 2003; at the June 2015 homegoing service of his friend, protégé and brother in ministry the Reverend Clementa Pinckney; and at a January 2025 event honoring the final day of office for 46th U.S. President Joseph R. Biden at the International African American Museum in Charleston.

His work advocating for others led him to serve for a time as chairman of the P.A.S.T.O.R.S. affordable housing initiative in downtown Charleston and the SC Coalition of Black Church Leaders. Reverend Darby also served as the former first vice-president of the SC Conference of Branches of the NAACP and the Charleston Branch of the NAACP, respectively. At the state level, he authored the initial draft of economic and tourism sanctions in South Carolina enacted by the national NAACP from 1999 until the confederate battle flag was removed from a position of sovereignty atop the state house dome in 2015.

Gifted with a pen and a voice of integrity, Reverend Darby was a former Religion Writer for The Carolina Tribune, an opinion page contributor to many newspapers, the author of a devotion in the Zondervan African-American Devotional Bible, the author of the chapter on the Historically Black Church in the Columbia Urban League’s 2000 publication, The State of Black South Carolina, and his weekly email devotional with a large following. He was also an occasional commentator for cable news outlets, public radio and documentaries. In his first interview, in 1968 in the Columbia Record as Booker T. Washington High School student council vice president, he voiced his approval of the halt in bombing in North Vietnam in favor of peace negotiations.

Reverend Darby’s numerous honors and awards include a Top Achiever Award in the 1993 South Carolina Black Male Showcase, and South Carolina Business Vision magazine’s 1997 South Carolina’s 25 Most Influential African Americans Award. Reverend Darby was also inducted to the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame in 2002, and he was an inaugural Class of 2004 inductee into the Richland School District One Hall of Fame.

A gifted musician, Reverend Darby played several instruments from his youth onward, later performing with the Columbia Community Concert Band and for the congregations that he served. He continued to play his clarinet until recent months. An involved father and grandfather, he enjoyed sharing wit and wisdom with his sons, and enjoyed playing with his grandchildren.

Reverend Darby was preceded in death by his parents and his beloved wife of 46 years, Mrs. Mary Bright Darby, who died on August 14, 2020. He is survived by sons Dr. Jason Christopher Darby (Dr. Cherisse Thomas-Darby) of Columbia, SC, and Mr. Jeremy Christian Darby (Mrs. Hayley Lawrence-Darby) of Raleigh, NC, grandchildren Jax Lawrence, Zora Josephine, Naomi Cherisse and Julius Marcellus; sisters-in-law Eva Goodwin (Lloyd) of Walterboro, SC, Queen Young of Fayetteville, NC, Edith Bright Washington of Walterboro, SC, Judy Williams of Walterboro, SC, and Rose Simpson of Walterboro, SC; brothers-in-law John Bright of Walterboro, SC, and Robert Bright of Walterboro, SC; eight nieces, three nephews; 16 great-nieces and great-nephews; a large extended family; and a close circle of friends.