The marriage was unhappy, and when Wilson got a job in Richmond, Virginia and asked Atwater to uproot herself again, she countered: I already followed you to Durham. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media. In one meeting with a councilman, Atwater recalls that when he was not taking her seriously as she was trying to make her points, she would hit him on the head, surprising him so much that he would listen to her afterwards. Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. Courtesy of STXfilmsAnn Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary An Unlikely Friendship. When Kathleen Peterson was found dead in her home on December 9, 2001, suspicions naturally turned to the only other person in the house at the time: her husband Michael Peterson. But much rang true. You gotta have somethin to look at to hate. Atwater, who died in 2016 at the age of 80, defied stereotypes. She knew that some welfare workers were guilty of this. She hit him over the head with a telephone receiver and he sat down to listen. Ellis described the hatred he felt toward blacks going in. BLOCK: Civil rights activist Ann Atwater in Durham, North Carolina. He was to tear it apart. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown. That was Howard Fuller with Operation Breakthrough, a program founded in Durham in 1964 to address poverty and inequality. Born Ann George in the community of Hallsboro in Columbus County, North Carolina, she was pregnant and married at the age of 14. Conservative town leaders were largely receptive to his message. "The city council people didn't want to look at us because we were black," said Ann. As a chair of a housing committee, Atwater organized protests and rallies calling for better housing conditions for the poor. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. Like his older brother Clayton, Todd Peterson stood by his father's side during the trial and today. Ellis formed a lifelong friendship. -School for Conversion, Yes. In the movie, it's hard to tell if they're trying to kill the woman or frighten her, but there's no mention of the shooting in either the documentary or. Atwater disliked the lack of respect many whites showed for blacks. Her parents were sharecroppers, and her father was also a deacon of the nearby church. Ann Atwater Even though the Supreme Court had ruled in the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Educationcase that schools had to be desegregated, this by no means meant that there wasn't a great deal of resistance in some communities, especially in the South. And he wasn't clapping his hands even along with us; he would clap an odd beat. Ellis began to change. 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. I pulled out, I had a little small knife, pocket knife." Atwater went to work as a maid, making 30 cents an hour. I didnt like the demonstrations downtown, recalled Ellis some 30 years after the charrette. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. Her bold actions so surprised the councilmen that they had to listen to her. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my hand bag and opened the blade. I didn't like integration. We looked at each other. Ann Atwater and C.P. C.P. [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. Peterson was the last person to see her alive. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. The natural person for me to hate would be black people, because my father before me was a member of the Klan. Ellis lived across the tracks in a neighborhood nearly as destitute, but white. One day we were working with a welfare problem, people werent getting the type help that they were supposed to get from the welfare department, so I took one of the ladies and went down to the Department of Social Services, Atwater recalled in a 2010 interview. They also proposed major changes in the school curriculum, such as more instruction on dealing with racial violence, creation of a group to discuss and resolve problems before they escalated, and expansion in choices of textbooks to include African-American authors. The circumstances in which their mother died would raise suspicions about Michael Peterson's role in Kathleen Peterson's murder ahead of his trial. State Government websites value user privacy. He goes from being a leader of the Ku Klux Klan to being a union organizer for both blacks and whites, a civil right advocate. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. It was revealed over the course of the trial that Michael was bisexual and had been corresponding with a male sex worker, even making plans to meet up. They ended up living in one small bedroom shared with another man who slept in one bed while Atwater, her husband and the baby slept in another. And C.P. How could I work with her? They don't have any evidence to some of the things that they do and some of the opinions they make. The Best of Enemies true story reveals that Ann Atwater got married at the age of 14 and moved to Durham, NC in 1953. But both Ann Atwater and C.P. Ann Atwater: Grassroots Organizer and Veteran of Americas Freedom Struggle. But Atwater's husband struggled financially, and became alcoholic and abusive. He invited Atwater to a meeting and to join. C.P. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary. It was at this house in Durhams Hayti District where she met Howard Fuller, the man that would help her reach her destiny as a pioneering advocate. This is the story of Ann Atwater, political activist and desegregationist, the true story behind the 2019 film The Best of Enemies. She showed that it was possible for whites and blacks, even with conflicting views, to negotiate and collaborate by establishing some common ground. Yes. 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. At one point, she said, "We went in the office and cried because we were doing things the wrong way just because one was black and one was white.. The other co-chair would be C.P. Despite that, the couple's five children (four of whom were Michael's, all from previous relationships) stood by their dad until some information came to light that changed Kathleen's daughter's mind. After their second daughter, Marilyn, was born, he left the family and moved to Richmond for a better job, according to Davidson. She organized her community to rail against the citys repressive and reprehensible policies towards black housing, often peacefully in pickets and marches and city council meetings, but she was not averse to more violent tactics, as when she participated in the bombing of the Housing Authority. But then if I look back at it through my Bible, through God's work, God had a plan for both of us. I'm Michele Norris. They showed community members how to cultivate gardens or how to chip in and fundraise together to improve their neighborhoods. Ellis quit the KKK. As seen in The Staircase documentary on Netflix, Clayton's first son Dorian visits Michael Peterson in prison as a baby and towards the end of the documentary, his wife Becky is seen pregnant with their second child, Lucien. "She didn't particularly like the Klan," C.P. Ann's dad had encouraged her baby's father to marry her. C.P. "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. Ellis a couple of years before we worked together to integrate Durhams schools, Atwater wrote in a 2013 column in the Durham Herald-Sun titled What Forgiveness Costs., We were at a meeting downtown together, and he kept yelling n---- this and n---- that. Today, Todd is believed to be living in Tennessee. She showed up and sat down in the chapel, Wilson-Hartgrove said in an interview. She moved to Durham in 1953, where her husband, William French, had relocated. [8][pageneeded]. Initially, they didn't even speak to one another. Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. But the job didnt last, and Atwater went to the Department of Social Services to apply for help. By 1967 she was employed by the United Organization for Community Improvement and was chair of the Housing Committee. Atwater changed history in Durham, refusing to be ignored as she demanded better schools and living conditions for black residents. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. He went on to organize labor unions for both blacks and whites. On the evening of her death, the Petersons had dinner with Ratliff and her daughters. They would turn the chairs around and demand to be heard. Margaret Ratliff and her young sister Martha Ratliff were adopted by Michael Peterson after their parents, Elizabeth and George Ratliff, died. All rights reserved. He worked multiple jobs to support his family, but like Atwater, he barely found the funds to make ends meet. Ellis was a former grand exalted cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan in Durham, North Carolina. In an NPR interview in 1996, C.P. Durham's prosperous black business sector made the city a beacon of hope for African Americans seeking to rise through self-help. One day when Atwater went to the welfare office to see if she could get $100 to pay her overdue rent and avoid eviction, she happened to meet Fuller. is afraid that the black children will come to the white schools. Atwater had been an activist for quite some time before her role in helping to solve the problems related to the desegregation of schools, which is what's focused on in the movie. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Womens History and Culture, February 1, 2006. She turned those chairs back around to force them to face her. For more vivid tales of 20th-century race relations like the true story of The Best Of Enemies of Ann Atwater and C.P. She and Ellis continued their friendship to the end of their lives. Atwater promoted unity of the working-class African Americans through grassroots organizations. We didnt know we had things in common., They talked about the hardships of raising children in poverty, and their efforts to emphasize that their children's potential was equal to that of middle-class children. She told Dateline: According to ABC News, that made Atwater view her stepfather in another light. Change did not come easily or suddenly, and the two faced ostracism, even death threats; C.P. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. Some people may not have liked that she was demanding and outspoken, but those qualities enabled her to be a successful activist and organizer. She first became involved in activism after local housing advocates helped her be able to keep her home when she fell behind on rent. 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. This wasnt actually true there was no house waiting for her when she arrived in Durham. Like Ann Atwater, Claiborne Paul Ellis was raised in a life of poverty. He was blind, deaf, and suffered from an intellectual disability. She made no bones about taking them out if necessary. It met for ten sessions. After the course, Atwater had found her lifes purpose. The Staircase on HBO Max delves deep into the story of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife Kathleen Peterson on December 9, 2001.

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