Bill Riddick, a professor and consultant, was contracted by union organizers to help solve the crisis. Ellis had regularly been attending city council meetings, school board meetings, and county meetings to oppose civil rights changes and its activists. "I haven't been the same since I left that school program," he said years later. Yes, The Best of Enemies is based on a true story. This wasnt actually true there was no house waiting for her when she arrived in Durham. The other co-chair would be C.P. I didnt like Ann boycotting stores. At the time, Durham had a fairly large black population, with a considerable portion of educated, middle-class blacks, in addition to white residents and poor blacks. BLOCK: Why would C.P. Initially, they didn't even speak to one another. was sitting there, and first he started clapping his hands. And the funny part about it, we stayed friends all these years. She knew that some welfare workers were guilty of this. She married the babys father, French Wilson, but their baby died soon after birth. Ann Atwater is best known for her work in civil rights, and for her unlikely friendship with Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. City council people, would, they was in those chairs you know they wheel around, and they would turn their backs to us and didnt wanna hear us," Atwater said in the 2010 interview with Duke University historian Robert Korstad. In real life, the labor union (AFL-CIO) in Durham was given a grant to help mediate the problem, after which a 10-day public meeting, or charrette, was held. [14] She concluded that the most effective method of getting people to listen to her was to holler at them. When she called a meeting, she meant business. His turnabout came through a 10-day community meeting on school desegregation in 1971. "The city council people didn't want to look at us because we were black," said Ann. It wasnt until way down in the meeting," Atwater recalled in 2002 documentary film, Ann Atwater: Grassroots Organizer and Veteran of Americas Freedom Struggle, when the children got us together and said they wanted to go to school together. If I told him I needed some money, he told me he needed something, we looked after each other. Two years later, she had another baby, whom she named Lydia, Davidson wrote. She was a member of several community groups and local Democratic Party vice president in 1968. She said, "I realized there was definitely another side to him.". Atwater had made Ellis begin to question his way of thinking toward blacks. Through Fuller, Ann Atwater was introduced to Operation Breakthrough. Ellis. From then on, she demanded to be heard. Despite the suspicions surrounding their mother's death, Margaret and Martha Ratliff continued to support Michael Peterson, believing he did not kill Kathleen. She married Willie Pettiford in 1975, and became a deacon at the Mount Calvary United Church of Christ. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. [13][pageneeded], Atwater and Ellis presented the School Board with a list of recommendations from the charrette, including giving students a larger say on education issues by expanding the board to include two students from each of the major racial groups. And then starting into the next week, we talked to the youth, and we found out that the children was the ones suffering. "I just lend whatever God gives me to give out. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. Ms. Atwater, Mr. Ellis there saying he hated your guts going into these meetings. Patrick Schwarzenegger and Dane DeHaan as Todd and Clayton Peterson in The Staircase on HBO Max. Hatin America is hard to do because you cant see it to hate it. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. While Ratliff's murder remains unsolved, Michael was convicted of Kathleen's. You gotta have somethin to look at to hate. She became an effective leader. They divorced. [2], After Atwater co-led the charrette, she continued to work with the poor and middle-class black community in Durham. He stayed in touch with me; I'd call him. All rights reserved. Ann's granddaughter says that she's always viewed C.P. Her mother died when she was 6. [1] In the documentary An Unlikely Friendship, Atwater recalled that while working on a white owner's farm, she was given food only through the back door and after the white workers had eaten. As seen in The Staircase on HBO Max, Caitlin's opinion changed after she saw autopsy pictures showcasing the severity of Kathleen Peterson's injuries and after learning of Michael Peterson's bisexuality. In October 2002, acting as administrator of her mother's estate, Caitlin Atwater filed a wrongful death claim in a civil case against Michael Peterson. She moved to Durham in 1953. My husband was already here, and he sent back for me and my oldest child, and he told me he had a place for us to live, Atwater explained during the oral history interview. The Durham medical examiner concluded Ratliff's cause of death was "homicide". Ellis have agreed to take part in these meetings, which were all about improving race relations and figuring out a way to integrate the schools? Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, February 1, 2006. "This particular night C.P. The committee met for 12 hours daily over 10 days to find a solution for the Durham school desegregation problem, which would be binding on the city. And she was an effective boycotter, too. He invited Atwater to a meeting and to join. Atwater promoted unity of the working-class African Americans through grassroots organizations. Elliss funeral in 2005, Ann Atwater delivered his eulogy. Over the course of the 10 days that they co-chaired the committee on school desegregation, Ann Atwater and C.P. [4] The roof of her house was full of holes, the bathtub had fallen through the floor, and the house was so poorly wired that when the man cut off [her] lights for nonpayment, [she] could stomp on the floor and the lights would come on and [shed] stomp on the floor and theyd go off. All I had was God holding my back and that's it. Throughout her career she helped improve the quality of life in Durham through programs such as Operation Breakthrough (Durham, North Carolina), a community organization dedicated to fight the War on Poverty. Over 10 days, the opposing sides met and tension grew. Ann Atwater: Grassroots Organizer and Veteran of Americas Freedom Struggle. Ellis had epiphanies. 25 Of Our Favorite Mothers Day Episodes From 'The Golden Girls' to 'Rugrats', It's Official! And he wasn't clapping his hands even along with us; he would clap an odd beat. A fact-check of The Best of Enemies confirms that Atwater became involved in school desegregation in 1971 when she was asked to co-chair a special initiative to address the matter, which is when we catch up with her in the movie. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. [10][pageneeded]. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown, Ellis told NPR in a 1996 interview. And we showed that towards each other up until we went into the (unintelligible) a 10-day meeting. This website is undergoing design changes. So, where are Michael Peterson's children now? For food, she and her daughters could only afford rice, cabbage, and gravy while she made her daughters clothes out of the bags the rice came in. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. Jim Thornton/The Herald Sun Collections/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill LibrariesAnn Atwater and C.P. No. When Atwater discovered caseworkers kept key information from clients, she figured out how to get the information herself. Tensions steadily rose, but near the end the two had a change of heart. Today, he lives in Maryland with his two children, according to The News and Observer. BLOCK: You know, it seems like such an unlikely transformation. Gradually Atwater became a leader among the participants in Operation Breakthrough meetings. I began to blame it on black people. Im not following you any further.. He went on to organize labor unions for both blacks and whites. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. Because the white councilmen did not want to listen to a black woman talk, they turned their chairs away from her. She organized groups of women who had to visit the welfare offices frequently and had them push for change. Courtesy of STXfilmsAnn Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary An Unlikely Friendship. They also raised Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of their friends George and Elizabeth Ratliff. She had little faith that hed be able to get her landlord to do anything, but she agreed to go with him to a meeting for his organization. This article was published more than4 years ago. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. So I grabbed his hand and trying to show him how to clap along with us at the same time till we learned him how to clap. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown. NBC News reported that after seeing Kathleen's autopsy photos, Atwater called Margaret and said: The sisters stopped speaking after that. Atwater lived in a dilapidated house on an unpaved street in Durhams Hayti district, where she struggled to support her two daughters. C.P. Ellis died in 2005 and Atwater was asked to deliver the eulogy. Starting from the very beginning, Ann Atwater was born in Hallsboro as one of nine children and got married in her early teenage years. She did. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. She was one of those legendary black women in the South who was simply fearless when facing white oppression. Ellis. Fuller was bankrolled by the North Caroline Fund to do some community organizing and soon drafted Atwater into the group. The unlikely friendship is remarkable, but most of all, Ann Atwaters legacy is that of a fierce defender of integration to whom the word no meant nothing. Photo from the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill Libraries, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, An official website of the State of North Carolina, Advisory Council on Film, Television, and Digital Streaming, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion, N.C. VarietyThe Best of Enemies depicts the unexpected friendship between Ann Atwater and C.P. "She didn't particularly like the Klan," C.P. Ellis, a local Klan leader, focuses on a 10-day charrette, a community meeting that was organized in 1971 to grapple with the issue of school desegregation. Ellis (portrayed by Sam Rockwell). In an NPR interview in 1996, C.P. Both Atwater and Ellis have since passed away, but their legacies live today through their family members. She said, I know. He said, It is private. She said, I know. He said, Family only. She said, He was my brother. ", The last survivor of a slave ship has been identified, and her story is remarkable, Missouri v. Celia, a Slave: She killed the white master raping her, then claimed self-defense, Harriet Tubman made men pay for underestimating her, When Portland banned blacks: Oregons shameful history as an all-white state, Local news, weather, sports, events, restaurants and more, Ann Atwaters amazing rise from advocate for the poor to Best of Enemies stardom. Like all historical fiction, the 2019 film The Best of Enemies takes a bit of license with reality. However, her husband soon left her, and she was faced with raising their two children on her own. She wrote in a column that a couple of years before that committee she nearly slit his throat at a city meeting after he repeatedly used the n-word. I pulled out, I had a little small knife, pocket knife." His action resulted in death threats and he was shunned by a significant portion of his community. Ann G. Atwater was born on July 1, 1935, in Hillsboro, North Carolina. But my pastor was sitting there and saw me holding the knife. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. Theres no room with the Nationals. And the house was so poorly wired that when the man cut off my lights for nonpayment of [the] light bill, I could stomp on the floor and the lights would come on and Id stomp on the floor and theyd go off.. And she was an effective boycotter, too. Students were getting into fights at schools over the issue. Welfare was only providing $57 a month, and she was leasing a dilapidated house where she was $100 behind her rent. Ann actually gave Ellis' eulogy when he passed away. In July 1971, the public schools were still segregated, despite the 1954 US Supreme Court ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional, and 1960s federal civil rights legislation about integration of public facilities. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. The Best of Enemies true story reveals that Ann Atwater got married at the age of 14 and moved to Durham, NC in 1953. She became an activist with Operation Breakthrough and would later work with the United Organizations for Community improvement. But to see--as I tell everybody, God had a hand on that because in the meetings C.P.

Jamie Davis New Rotator 2021, Let Them All Talk Bees Explained, My Husband Pulls Away When I Touch Him, Articles W