Ms. ANN ATWATER (Civil Rights Activist): Yes, he did, and I hated him just as hard as he hated me. C.P. They presented ways to improve curriculum, in addition to making it easier for students' voices to be heard. 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. ELLIS (Civil Rights Advocate): I wanted to make them angry. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. Ann G. Atwater was born on July 1, 1935, in Hillsboro, North Carolina. I hated her guts., BlacKkKlansman: How black detective Ron Stallworth infiltrated the Colorado Klan, Atwater countered: I hated him just as hard as he hated me. Over the course of the 10 days that they co-chaired the committee on school desegregation, Ann Atwater and C.P. It's just a strange thing, but it really happened. He was blind, deaf, and suffered from an intellectual disability. For Ellis, it finally came to me that I had more in common with poor black people than I did with rich white ones., When the children got us together and said they wanted to go to school together. Ellis said of his wife, "but she endured it because I enjoyed it, see? When Ellis, who later became a labor rights activist, died in 2005, his family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. He had similar feelings, saying, "It was impossible. In the 1960s, eighty percent of black Durham residents lived in substandard housing, a figure which had remained unchanged since the 1920s. Operation Breakthrough helped people define and accomplish a series of tasks in order to build a pattern of achievement. Welfare was only providing $57 a month, and she was leasing a dilapidated house where she was $100 behind her rent. Hatin America is hard to do because you cant see it to hate it. She showed that it was possible for whites and blacks, even with conflicting views, to negotiate and collaborate by establishing some common ground. 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. She first became involved in activism after local housing advocates helped her be able to keep her home when she fell behind on rent. And when I'd walk up to the school building, I had my white Bible in my hand. Today, he lives in Maryland with his two children, according to The News and Observer. There certainly is no deep seated love between Mr. Ellis and myself but this school project brings out problems we all have. is afraid that the black children will come to the white schools. Initially, they didn't even speak to one another. Ms. ATWATER: No, it don't when you look back at it. Despite the suspicions surrounding their mother's death, Margaret and Martha Ratliff continued to support Michael Peterson, believing he did not kill Kathleen. And we showed that towards each other up until we went into the 10-day meeting.. Jeter Downs needs to play to develop. He got up in the middle of their conversation, ignoring Atwater and the crowd of black parents behind her. Ellis, an exalted cyclops of the local Ku Klux Klan in Durham. 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. Ultimately, the school board disregarded the proposals put forth by the charrette, but the friendship C.P. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. Atwater went to work as a maid, making 30 cents an hour. Yes. NBC News reported that after seeing Kathleen's autopsy photos, Atwater called Margaret and said: The sisters stopped speaking after that. Ellis To Join Her In The Fight, A foodie, wanderlust victim, professional Francophile, and history nerd, Andrew Milne is a freelance writer who has worked at outlets like Bon Apptit and Food Network, and currently runs content at, The True Story Of Bathsheba Sherman, The Murderous Ghost From 'The Conjuring', The True Story Of Frank Lucas, The Harlem Drug Lord Who Built A Heroin Empire, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Jim Thornton/The Herald Sun Collections/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, Ann Atwater and C.P. 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? She survived on $57 a month from a welfare check, and struggled to pay rent, as she gained only occasional domestic work in white homes. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, February 1, 2006. I didn't like them. Atwater disliked the lack of respect many whites showed for blacks. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. Todd Peterson is the second son of Michael Peterson, from his first marriage to Patricia Sue. Elliss position at the margins of white society frustrated him, and looking for a scapegoat, he turned to the target provided by the Klan, as he explained in a 1980 interview with oral historian Studs Terkel: I really began to get bitter. Ms. ATWATER: Well, thank you for talking to me. And he wasn't clapping his hands even along with us; he would clap an odd beat. Michael had adopted the girls after their mother (and his good friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in a fall down the stairs. Ann Atwater was a pioneer of community organizing and black advocacy. 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. This will be the first time two completely different sets of philosophies have united to work for this goal of better schools. C.P. They would turn the chairs around and demand to be heard. Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. After that, Atwater went door to door telling people how they could get their landlords to fix their houses. The funeral homes were still segregated, said Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, director of the School for Conversion, a community program in Durham. Her first baby died soon after birth. is the president of the KKK, and cares for his children. 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. "They would turn their chairs around, and they were chairs that wheeled around. 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. I know if we weren't gonna look after our children, nobody else would. She moved to Durham in 1953, where her husband, William French, had relocated. was sitting there, and first he started clapping his hands. 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. So I began to admire the Klan. As seen in The Staircase on HBO Max, Todd Peterson was the first person to see his father in the immediate aftermath of Kathleen's body being discovered. Ann actually gave Ellis' eulogy when he passed away. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Ms. ATWATER: Yeah. [9] Atwater mobilized poor blacks in Durham to help them stand up for themselves. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. 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. [8], From 2006 until her death, Atwater worked with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove at the School for Conversion as a "freedom teacher," mentoring young people and activists in community organizing and fusion politics. Her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany at the time and an autopsy concluded she had died from an intracerebral hemorrhage. We looked at each other. "She didn't particularly like the Klan," C.P. Yes. Yes. Ellis like an uncle and still keeps in touch with his family. In the early 1950s, Atwater and her daughter moved to Durham to join Wilson. The real-life story of Atwater is featured in the movie The Best of Enemies, starring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell, which opens in theaters Friday. 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. Ellis (portrayed by Sam Rockwell). [10][pageneeded]. Ann Atwater The circumstances in which their mother died would raise suspicions about Michael Peterson's role in Kathleen Peterson's murder ahead of his trial. As a result, there was no one to direct the Klan's Youth Corp and the program disbanded. She did. I didn't like integration. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary. 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. Newsweek She didnt know you could ask for repairs. Some people may not have liked that she was demanding and outspoken, but those qualities enabled her to be a successful activist and organizer. (Romper reached out to Michael Peterson's representatives and Netflix for additional statements.). The first three episodes of The Staircase premiere on Thursday, May 5, and the remaining episodes drop weekly on HBO Max. Like all historical fiction, the 2019 film The Best of Enemies takes a bit of license with reality. 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. Two years later, they had a daughter named Lydia. Elliss funeral in 2005, Ann Atwater delivered his eulogy. Most of Michael Peterson's children stood by their father but stepdaughter Caitlin Atwater believed he was guilty of killing her mother, Kathleen Peterson. Eventually Atwater divorced him and raised their two daughters on her own as a single mother. On the evening of her death, the Petersons had dinner with Ratliff and her daughters. She said that after "all was said and done, I felt confident that I knew what happened. At this point, the couple had another daughter, Marilyn. [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. The school's Ann Atwater Freedom Library continues her work of "making surprising friendships possible".[15]. The film tells the story of Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson) and Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Atwater had made Ellis begin to question his way of thinking toward blacks. It helped participants gain confidence that they could achieve change and escape poverty. The couple divorced, and Atwater supported herself and her two children as a maid for 30 cents an hour, before turning to Social Services for help. Me and him was over there mad with each other, but we wasn't getting anything done that the children wanted. Then, when it was nearly over, Atwater and Ellis had a change of heart. If we fail, at least no one can say we didnt try. C.P. All rights reserved. Throughout Michael Peterson's arrest, trial, and 17 years of appeals, the Peterson children remained divided over their father's innocence. Do you look back, and does it make sense to you? Jim Thornton/The Herald Sun Collections/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill LibrariesAnn Atwater and C.P. The experience inspired her to become involved in housing advocacy herself. As far as he was concerned, it was the savior of the white people. 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. The Best of Enemies (2019 film Students were getting into fights at schools over the issue. That was Howard Fuller with Operation Breakthrough, a program founded in Durham in 1964 to address poverty and inequality. In 1967, Atwater took a 17-week training course where she learned about tenant rights, housing codes and how to organize community protests. 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. 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. "We were chosen to be co-chairs to integrate the school system peacefully," said Atwater (School for Conversion). Atwater changed history in Durham, refusing to be ignored as she demanded better schools and living conditions for black residents. Activist Ann Atwater 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. With her persistence, the office set up private booths for meetings with each client. "All of this drastically changed my life, I mean, my thinking. 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. His turnabout came through a 10-day community meeting on school desegregation in 1971. I did lose my family and my home." Daves Hot Chicken will have you begging for more, and maybe for mercy, Josiah Gray finishes April with a flourish as Nats avoid a series sweep, The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South, Durham Herald-Sun titled What Forgiveness Costs.. A friend talked her out of trying to stab C.P., telling her, "That's what they want you to do." Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media. Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer defied men and presidents who tried to silence her. He went on to organize labor unions for both blacks and whites. And C.P. 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.. To learn more, view our full privacy policy. They raised him until approximately age 11, when he was placed in an institution. "And we had to go up and knock them back around so that would let them know that we are human and well talk to them.. Today, Todd is believed to be living in Tennessee. What happened Atwater lived in a dilapidated house on an unpaved street in Durhams Hayti district, where she struggled to support her two daughters. And that plan was to put us there to make sure that this school integration would be done peacefully, and that's what happened. By the end of the charrette, Ellis gave up his leadership in the KKK. Ellis' funeral on Saturday. Atwater married Willie Pettiford in 1975 and eventually had two daughters, the late Lydia Green and Marilynn Turner. They divorced. Up to that point, we didnt know each other. Copyright 2005 NPR. -School for Conversion Interview. Caitlin Atwater would go on to become a key witness on the prosecution side during Michael Peterson's trial. Gradually Atwater became a leader among the participants in Operation Breakthrough meetings. 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. I didnt like Ann boycotting stores.