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-ammanuel church.

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

reconstructed Keep the Faith Baby.

Giving all praise and honor to God.

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 Clemente Pinkney, a state senator and the senior

pastor of the historic Mother-ammanuel A.M.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 to close the naked and house

of 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,

eulogyzing 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

...