‘Moving toward the light’: Echo Theater to begin transformation of former Redneck Shop

A former South Carolina house of hate is one step closer to becoming a place that celebrates diversity, inclusivity and healing divisions.

Thursday, organizers of The Echo Project lit the marquee of the Echo Theater in Laurens County for the first time in 25 years. It was a symbolic moment for a long-awaited project that is set to begin construction soon.

“This is just the beginning,” said Echo Project Executive Director Regan Freeman. “We are going to build a world-class education institution, a world class museum here in Laurens, South Carolina. We’re going to reckon with this history. We’re going to confront it directly.”

It will be a major transformation for a 100-year-old building that once housed a segregated theater, and in the late ‘90s, was known as The Redneck Shop. The Redneck Shop openly sold racist memorabilia in the store windows and held meetings for hate groups.

In 2018, Freeman, a former University of South Carolina student and S.C. native, reached out to the Rev. David Kennedy, the building’s owner, about transforming it and giving it a new identity.

When Freeman first got involved, the building was filled with debris and windows were boarded up. Freeman and Kennedy, a pastor at New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens, began raising money for the Echo Project.

The goal is to raise $3 million, said Kennedy, who serves as president of the Echo Proejct.

So far, they’ve raised more than $577,000, which includes a $75,000 donation recently given by Walmart. That’s a steep increase since January, when the project had raised just more than $338,000.

Kennedy came to own the Echo Theater after a former member of the KKK — who nearly assassinated him — gifted him the building. The story is the subject of the 2018 movie “Burden,” which features Forest Whitaker as Kennedy.

Michael Allen, a former Clemson University football player, is working as the architect on the Echo Theater’s renovation. During Thursday’s marquee lighting, he said the theater would be designed to bring a diverse crowd of people into Laurens to visit the center and “change Laurens for the better.”

The Echo Project has had close ties to the NAACP. Kennedy is the president of the Laurens County chapter of the organization. Brenda Murphy, the head of South Carolina’s NAACP, credits Kennedy for moving forward the cause of racial justice in Laurens.

“When I think about the history of Laurens and how it has transcended ... in the ‘80s it was very dark,” Murphy said. However, thanks to the work of people like Kennedy, “We are moving toward the light,” Murphy said.

This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 9:55 PM.