with the help of his new beginning missionary baptist church and an unexpected ally. 24-year-old reagan freeman. >> i believe in this. i do not know why it caught on to me. it's the right thing to do. >> reagan is a breath of fresh air. he's young, he's energetic, he stays pumped up. >> there is a reckoning taking place -- >> reporter: freeman was in college when this 2018 "60 minutes" story changed his life's course. oprah winfrey's report on the memorial honoring the thousands of african-americans lynched in the u.s. revealed an ugly truth about freeman's home county of laurens. >> every name has its own story. >> liza cowen was lynched in laurens county, south carolina -- >> she was lynched here, and that was never taught to me as i was growing up. it sat with me and bothered me to no end. that side or that side -- >> reporter: he did some digging, learned about reverend kennedy's goal for the theater, and offered to help. >> i cold called reverend kennedy for him to take a chance and let me be a part of this, and to help his church push the rock up the hill. it's the honor of a lifetime. >>

with the help of his new beginning missionary baptist church and an unexpected ally. 24-year-old reagan freemanng place -- >> reporter: freeman was in college when this 2018 "60 minutes" story changed his life's course. oprah winfrey's report on the memorial honoring the thousands of african-americans lynched in the u.s. revealed an ugly truth about freeman's home county of la laurens. >> every name has its own story. >> liza cowen was lynched in south carolina -- >> she was lynched here, and that was never taught to me as i was growing up. it sat with me and bothered me to no end. that side or that side -- >> reporter: he did some digging, learned about reverend kennedy's goal for the theater, and offered to help. >> i cold called reverend kennedy for him to take a chance and let me be a part of this, and to help his church push the rock up the hill. it's the honor of a lifetime. >> reporter: freeman's executive director of the echo project, the effort to convert the theater into a museum and memorial for diversity and reconciliation. it will display the racist relics it once housed. >> everyt