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. Yes. "We went to the schoolhouse and we found out that the teachers there were out of their field," recalled Atwater. Ann Atwater was used to struggling, but she hit some truly hard times. Caitlin Atwater is Kathleen Peterson's daughter with her first husband, Fred Atwater. Aiden Shaw Makes His Return In 'And Just Like That' Season 2, 15 Movies On Netflix About Mothers & Daughters Thatll Make You Emotional, Beef Captures Our Toxic Tendency To Confuse Love With Sacrifice, What Parents Are Talking About Delivered Straight To Your Inbox, By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Ellis lived across the tracks in a neighborhood nearly as destitute, but white. Ellis was the Grand Cyclops of the Durham chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, raised in a poor white family that taught him to hate black people. C.P. Though going through the trial was unimaginably difficult, Atwater did tell IndyWeek that it gave her a measure of understanding. Atwater told Dateline correspondent Dennis Murphy that she had lost "far more than just my mother. Ellis, Ann Atwater's voice was deep and powerful, and she had the ability to energize her audience. 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 later recalled. I went on back out the street and went on down, right back down the street to the office, and we Xeroxed the part that told the welfare recipients their rights.. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. Ann Atwater The kids in some of the schools were also being taught material that was a year behind what kids their same age were being taught in other schools. Clayton Peterson is the oldest son of Michael Peterson from his first marriage to Patricia Sue, an elementary school teacher at the Rhein-Main Air Base in Grfenhausen, Germany. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Ellis and his wife Mary had a son who they called Punkin'. So, where are Michael Peterson's children now? "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. Up to that point, we didnt know each other. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. At first, Caitlin supported her step-father and told the press after his arrest: "My mother and Mike had an absolutely loving relationship and there is no way that either of them would ever wish any sort of harm on the other one.". Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer defied men and presidents who tried to silence her. 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. I didn't like integration. 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. She even experienced racism in that moment, when a funeral home worker doubted she knew the deceased. And she was an effective boycotter, too. [8][pageneeded]. After the course, Atwater had found her lifes purpose. If we fail, at least no one can say we didnt try. Atwater found her niche. had a machine gun, and he would show it to the city councilmen in the trunk of his car every morning. WebIn 1971 in Durham, North Carolina, Ann Atwater tries to get better housing conditions for poor black people, and is ignored by the all-white judge panel. Michael had adopted the girls after their mother (and his good friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in a fall down the stairs. Functionality of the site should not be affected, but things may look different. Ellis had a change of heart after a 10-day forum on integration of schools in Durham, N.C. C.P. She could also prevent Michael from ever profiting from the crime, which was one of the goals of the wrongful death lawsuit she filed against him. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. C.P. 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. She was not afraid of white school board members, nor white city council members nor the local Klan and its methods of intimidation. Caitlin Atwater would go on to become a key witness on the prosecution side during Michael Peterson's trial. Revelations about Margaret and Martha's birth family also made Atwater doubt Michael's innocence, according to CBS News. A housing organizer came by one evening to ask if she needed help to get repairs. They decided to integrate the schools. He was blind, deaf, and suffered from an intellectual disability. "He didn't want [integration]," said Atwater of C.P. Sitting down with his nemesis, he realized that his struggles were her struggles too, and that they shared a fundamental commonality of experience. The children got them together and told them they wanted to go to school together. Colin Firth and Toni Colette star in HBO Max's latest true-crime drama, The Staircase, based on the 13-part documentary series of the same name by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. Ann I had to hate somebody. I know if we weren't gonna look after our children, nobody else would. When he requested that she and the two girls come, Atwater wrote a letter saying: I already followed you to Durham. She spoke at C.P. She was one of those legendary black women in the South who was simply fearless when facing white oppression. The first three episodes of The Staircase premiere on Thursday, May 5, and the remaining episodes drop weekly on HBO Max. 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.. To learn more, view our full privacy policy. Atwater, the daughter of sharecroppers and a single mother of two, moved to Durham when she was about 18 and spent most of her life fighting for the rights of black and impoverished citizens in Durham. Moving past race, they began to focus on other issues, such as the academic quality of Durhams schools. And then starting into the next week, we talked to the youth, and we found out that the children was the ones suffering. Ann Atwater was used to struggling, but she hit some truly hard times. Her mother died when she was 6. Atwater went to work as a maid, making 30 cents an hour. Ellis died last week in Durham at the age of 78. We looked at each other like fools wed been arguing about the wrong things and hadnt been doing anything to make the school system better., They started talking. Ellis discovered that their life experiences weren't all that different. It was during this series of meetings in the summer of 1971 that C.P. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. 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. Atwater said that she refused to go to the first meeting, but her boss in the housing authority told her she'd lose her job if she didn't show up. 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. I hated her guts.. Ellis had epiphanies. 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. [5][pageneeded] She joked in a later interview that the house didn't need windows because she could see everyone on the streets through the cracks in the wall.[6]. Fuller was bankrolled by the North Caroline Fund to do some community organizing and soon drafted Atwater into the group. Ann Atwater She moved to Durham in 1953, where her husband, William French, had relocated. Story of unlikely friendship in Durham hits "She didn't particularly like the Klan," C.P. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown, Ellis told NPR in a 1996 interview. She first became involved in activism after local housing advocates helped her be able to keep her home when she fell behind on rent. Ellis said of his wife, "but she endured it because I enjoyed it, see? -The Best of Enemies book. Clayton Peterson was sentenced to four years in prison for a failed attempt to firebomb the Duke University Administration Building, reports Metro.US. Ellis, who died of Alzheimer's in 2005, became a champion of union and labor organizations, working as an AFL-CIO organizer. For example, when addressing a white person, the welfare worker would politely call the person over to the desk and there privately ask Your name? BLOCK: Well, what happened in the course of this meeting over 10 days that turned things around in the way that it did? is afraid that the black children will come to the white schools. Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. And I had my coat on, and I took the manual off the desk and put it under my coat while she was fussing about coming there and not getting any help. 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. Like in The Best of Enemies movie, examining the fact vs. fiction reveals that he did tear up his KKK membership card in public. Atwater initially declined to serve as co-chair, but reluctantly agreed to work with Ellis. She grew to love fostering communities, teaching them how to take care of themselves, and not put up with the injustices they faced in their daily lives. The two became lifelong friends, often appearing together in interviews and documentaries. I didnt like integration. Conservative town leaders were largely receptive to his message. Your address? When addressing black people, the workers would holler at them across the room, What you here for? This embarrassed the black client, who was forced to explain private issues in front of a room full of strangers. She organized groups of women who had to visit the welfare offices frequently and had them push for change. They would turn the chairs around and demand to be heard. However, the prosecution did not accuse Peterson of Elizabeth Ratliff's death at his trial. Claiborne Paul Ellis, union organiser, born January 8 1927; died November 3 2005, A reformed white racist, he fought for black workers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. As the civil rights movement increased in urgency and militancy, he believed acting as a spokesman on behalf of the Klan was crucial to upholding the Southern way of life and its natural social hierarchy. "I haven't been the same since I left that school program," he said years later. As far as he was concerned, it was the savior of the white people. There certainly is no deep seated love between Mr. Ellis and myself but this school project brings out problems we all have. It seems an unlikely end for a sharecroppers daughter who had taken food from the farmers back door and who had internalized that she came second. On the final night of the charrette, Ellis stood before the crowd and ripped up his Klan card. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my handbag and opened the blade. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. ", Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. I didnt like them. Tensions steadily rose, but near the end the two had a change of heart. Ann G. Atwater was born on July 1, 1935, in Hillsboro, North Carolina. Such a system is still in use today. Newsweek has everything you need to know. Born Ann George in the community of Hallsboro in Columbus County, North Carolina, she was pregnant and married at the age of 14. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary. Atwater fought against the lack of respect that many whites showed blacks. However, they eventually joined their father in Durham, North Carolina, and spent the rest of their younger and adolescent years there. In 1971 Atwater was asked to co-chair a group looking for answers for the problems of desegregation of Durham Schools. For instance, the film never mentions Ellis KKK-inspired hatred of Catholics. I knew what happened to my mom." While Ratliff's murder remains unsolved, Michael was convicted of Kathleen's. And she was an effective boycotter, too. She was not afraid to voice her opinions loudly and proudly. An Alford plea is one where the defendant admits that the evidence against them would likely lead to a finding of guilty, but the defendant asserts their innocence. 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. Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. Ms. ATWATER: Well, thank you for talking to me. Following his nearly two-week long meeting with Ann Atwater, C.P. Two years later, she had another baby, whom she named Lydia, Davidson wrote. She and her husband relocated to Durham soon after in the hopes of better opportunities, but things shifted for the worst. We saw that each other, you know, was making it. (Romper reached out to Michael Peterson's representatives and Netflix for additional statements.). BLOCK: Ann Atwater joins us from her home in Durham to share her memories of C.P. To manage the transition to racial integration, councilman Bill Riddick called a charrette. Yes. And the funny part about it, we stayed friends all these years. Considering their history of mutual animosity, Atwater and Ellis were reluctant to work with the other, but both knew that to have their opinion represented, they must participate. But in the early 1970s, he had a remarkable change of heart and mind, and he became a civil rights advocate. The natural person for me to hate would be black people, because my father before me was a member of the Klan. 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. After their second daughter, Marilyn, was born, he left the family and moved to Richmond for a better job, according to Davidson. This article was published more than4 years ago. That was real, said Ann-Nakia Green, Atwaters 35-year-old granddaughter. Copyright 2005 NPR. Then, when it was nearly over, Atwater and Ellis had a change of heart. If the footage from the later episodes of Netflix's The Staircase from 2012 and 2016 are anything to go by, they are still close with Michael Peterson. Ellis remained close until his death in 2005, and Ellis family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. Ann G. Atwater Kevin Washington, C.P. Todd Peterson is the second son of Michael Peterson, from his first marriage to Patricia Sue. Over 10 days, the opposing sides met and tension grew. Jeter Downs needs to play to develop. Ellis, "and I particularly didn't want it at the time, but then I knew we were going to have to be at one school and the children had to get the best education they could. 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. Elliss funeral in 2005, Ann Atwater delivered his eulogy. [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. However, more prominent members of the community felt that the issue was too hot to get involved in. BLOCK: Civil rights activist Ann Atwater in Durham, North Carolina. No. She began to represent poor people with housing problems, and would go door-to-door telling others of her own previous housing problems and how she was able to resolve them. Atwater quickly rose to become a formidable spokeswoman for the poor in Durham. They divorced. I didnt like Ann boycotting stores. Because the white councilmen did not want to listen to a black woman talk, they turned their chairs away from her. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Civil-Rights Activist, Ex-Klansman C.P. Ellis : NPR we would see whose God would be the strongest, my God or his God. Ann Atwater 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.. Her husband was a drinker who often spent all his pay on homemade liquor. She said that after "all was said and done, I felt confident that I knew what happened. This will be the first time two completely different sets of philosophies have united to work for this goal of better schools. C.P. The other was C.P. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. That path involved a 17-week training course, where Ann Atwater learned the ropes of community organizing and the ins and outs of tenant rights along with the citys housing code. 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. Ann Atwater was born in 1935 in Hallsboro, North Carolina as one of nine children to parents who were sharecroppers; her father was also a deacon of the church. is the president of the KKK, and cares for his children. From then on, she demanded to be heard.

. Yes, The Best of Enemies is based on a true story. Theres no room with the Nationals. The real Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff,, Michael Peterson, Caitlin Atwater and Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore. We are going to have to lay aside our differences and work together. Instead, they spent the first bit of their married life sharing a single room with another man, with him in one bed while Atwater and Wilson shared the other with their baby. Ellis (portrayed by Sam Rockwell). She hit him over the head with a telephone receiver and he sat down to listen.

Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. He grew up in the tobacco and textile town of Durham, North Carolina. Over the course of the 10 days that they co-chaired the committee on school desegregation, Ann Atwater and C.P. [2] Riddick recruited participants from all sectors of Durham. The charrette was held for 10 days from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Whatever the leaders chose on school integration would become a binding decision that Durhams City Council would have to follow. Im not following you any further.. I feel that when somebody calls me for some help, God wants me to go on record sayin' I tried. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. In the early 1950s, Atwater and her daughter moved to Durham to join Wilson. Atwater changed history in Durham, refusing to be ignored as she demanded better schools and living conditions for black residents. He was upset and I was upset, and he was cussin' and callin' all black folks n**gers and I was callin' all white folks crackers, and I couldn't stand white folks anyway." Ann's daughter's school catches on fire, and C.P. 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. Ann Atwater was a pioneer of community organizing and black advocacy. Here we are, two people from the far end of the fence, having identical problems, except her being black and me being whiteThe amazing thing about it, her and I, up to that point, [had] cussed each other, bawled each other, we hated each other. Atwater promoted unity of the working-class African Americans through grassroots organizations. The school's Ann Atwater Freedom Library continues her work of "making surprising friendships possible".[15]. I began to blame it on black people. Ann Atwater, a black civil rights activist, talks about her friend. Yes. She was the star of her class, Davidson wrote, and when the training was over, she could [as she herself put it] kill anybody that wasnt already dead.. was up raging and ranting, that's when I wanted to cut his head off. Durham's prosperous black business sector made the city a beacon of hope for African Americans seeking to rise through self-help.
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