A former KKK headquarters terrorized a town for years. Now it will become a diversity center

The Rev. David Kennedy remembers well what it was like growing up in Laurens, South Carolina, during the Jim Crow era. He lived in an apartment with his grandparents marked “C” for “colored” and was forced off sidewalks when white people would pass.

He recalls going into a shop one day as a kid to buy a collar for his dog, only to have an employee ask him, “Do you need one to fit your neck, too?” He tells the stories of Black people killed after being falsely accused of wrongdoing — including his great-great uncle Richard Puckett.

“August the 11th of 1913 is when they killed him,” Kennedy said, detailing what unfolded that day: Puckett, who could not read or write, was delivering a letter from his roommate to a young woman who turned out to be married. The woman’s husband saw the note and turned his wrath on Puckett. Puckett was taken to jail.