Emanuel AME Church (Mother Emanuel)

Charleston called itself "The Holy City" for its steeples — but Mother Emanuel earned that name differently. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest AME church in the Southern United States, and its congregation has survived arson, earthquake, forced underground worship, and, on June 17, 2015, the murder of nine of its members by a white supremacist. The church reopened days later. It still holds services. Come for a Sunday morning — not to observe, but to witness a congregation that has refused, across two centuries, to be extinguished.