This week, we're continuing to bring you last year's special Black History series, Reconstructed, all about the enduring legacy of reconstruction.

Last week was about the importance of land in Black America's fight for freedom.

And this time, we explore how faith has always been a source of black power,

pride, and rebellion told through the story of Charleston's Mother Emmanuel Church.

This episode originally aired on February 17th, 2022. Here is episode three of Reconstructed.

Keep the Faith, baby.

On a sweltering summer day in June 2015, then President Barack Obama stood before a crowded

arena in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Bible calls us to hope, to persevere and have faith in things not seen.

He was there to give the eulogy for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a state senator and the senior pastor of the historic Mother Emmanuel A&E Church.

He embodied the idea that our Christian faith demands deeds and not just words. That to put our faith in action is more than just individual salvation.

It's about our collective salvation.

To feed the hunger and clothe the naked and house the homeless is not just a call for isolated charity,

but the imperative of a just society.

Down along the front row, just yards from where Obama stood, eulogizing Pinkney, the Reverend's

widow sat draped in all black, with a lacy hat framing her head like a beautiful, sad rose.

Their two little girls wore white bows in their hair. The president called their

father a good man and a good model of faith. And then to lose him, at 41, slain in his sanctuary with eight wonderful members of his flock,

but bound together by a common commitment to God.

Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, DePain Middleton Doctor,

Juanza Sanders, Daniel L. Simmons, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Myra Thompson.

Good people.

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