LAURENS. S.C. (AP) — Renovations are starting for an old theater in South Carolina that spent decades as a store that sold racist merchandise and a meeting spot for the Ku Klux Klan.
The Echo Project wants to rehabilitate the theater in Laurens and turn it into a community center and museum on racial reconciliation.
The Rev. David Kennedy owns the theater now. A former Klan member sold it to him for $1,000 after Kennedy helped him get food and a place to stay. But he let the Redneck Shop owner still lease his store.
Kennedy won a 15-year legal fight in 2012. The Echo Project has raised $300,000 for the work.