A native of Columbia, South Carolina, the Reverend Joseph A. Darby is the son of the late Joseph A. Darby, Sr. and Eloise Janerette Darby. He is a 1969 Graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, attended South Carolina State University (and was a member of the Marching 101 Band), and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and a product of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.

A fourth generation minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church with thirty years of pastoral experience, Rev. Darby served four congregations in the midlands of South Carolina and is currently Pastor of Morris Brown A.M.E. Church, Charleston, South Carolina - the largest congregation in and “first church” of the Seventh Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church. Rev. Darby also serves the Seventh Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church as Coordinator of the Sons of Allen Men's Fellowship, and is Registrar for the Board of Ministerial Training and a Conference Trustee for the Palmetto Annual Conference of the A.M.E. Church. Rev. Darby is also a member of the General Board of the A.M.E. Church.

Rev. Darby previously served as a Board Member of Success by Six of the Midlands, the United Way of the Midlands, the Center for Religion in the South, The Fighting Back of the Midlands Substance Abuse Initiative, the Midlands Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council, and the Columbia Branch of the NAACP. He also served on the State Superintendent of Education’s African-American Achievement Committee, the Racial/Cultural Advisory Council of the South Carolina School Boards Association, The Long Range Planning Subcommittee of the South Carolina Educational Oversight Committee; The Governor’s Task Force on Corrections and the Board of Directors of the Daniel J. Jenkins Institute for Children.

Rev. Darby is a former President of both the Greater Columbia Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the Greater Columbia Interfaith Clergy Association. He also served on the Charleston County School District’s Superintendent Search Committee, which led to the hiring of the School District’s first African-American Superintendent, and is former First Vice-President of the South Carolina Conference of the NAACP. As First Vice-President of the NAACP, Rev. Darby authored the resolution approved by the 1999 National Convention of the NAACP for the economic sanctions that led to the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from the Dome of South Carolina’s State House

Rev. Darby is presently a Board Member for the Reid House of Christian Service and the Family Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit’s Drug Court Program, serves on the Steering Committee for the International African-American History Museum, is a Life Member of the NAACP, and is First Vice-President of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP. Reverend Darby is a Member of the Charleston Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, is a board member for the Christian-Jewish Council of Greater Charleston, and is First Vice-President of the Charleston A.M.E. Ministerial Alliance, Chairman of the P.A.S.T.O.R.S. Community Development Corporation, and Board Chairman of the South Carolina Coalition of Black Church Leaders. Rev. Darby is also a Board member and President-Elect of the South Carolina Christian Action Council, the state’s ecumenical organization.

Rev. Darby is a former Religion Writer for The Carolina Tribune; an opinion page contributor to many newspapers; a former Community Opinion Writer for The State, Columbia, South Carolina’s daily newspaper; author of one of the daily devotions in the Zondervan African-American Devotional Bible and author of the chapter on the Historically Black Church in the 2000 Columbia Urban League’s publication of The State of Black South Carolina, Millennium Edition, an Action Agenda for the Future.

Rev. Darby’s honors and awards include a Top Achiever Award in the 1993 South Carolina Black Male Showcase, membership in Columbia, SC’s delegation to the 1997 Presidents' National Summit on America's Future, South Carolina Business Vision magazine’ 1997 listing of South Carolina's 25 most influential African-Americans award, the 1999 South Carolina Christian Action Council’s Howard G. McClain Christian Action in Public Policy Award, the 1999 NAACP Southeast Region Medgar W. Evers Leadership Award, the 2001 MOJA Festival Religious Achievement Award, and the 2001 Excellence in Religion award from the S.C. Mechanism of the National Council of Negro Women.

Rev. Darby is a 2002 inductee into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame, was featured in the BellSouth 2003 African-American History Calendar, and is a member of the Inaugural 2004 class of the Richland County School District One Hall of Fame. He was invited in 2003 to offer the Invocation at the Inauguration of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and was invited by Congressman James E. Clyburn, who is a member of his congregation, to offer the Invocation to open a daily session of the United States House of Representatives.

Rev. Darby is married to the former Mary M. Bright, a career educator. They are the proud parents of two sons: Jason Christopher, who works in marketing and public relations, and Jeremy Christian, who now attends Trident Technical College and will soon be returning to the Savannah College of Art and Design.