Civil-Rights Activist, Ex-Klansman C.P. Ellis : NPR His turnabout came through a 10-day community meeting on school desegregation in 1971. 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. Through Fuller, Ann Atwater was introduced to Operation Breakthrough. "So that's when me and him decided that we would work for the cause and stop fussin' and arguin' because one was black and one was white. [2], After Atwater co-led the charrette, she continued to work with the poor and middle-class black community in Durham. Newsweek has everything you need to know. C.P. I hated her guts.. Ellis told an NPR interviewer that Atwater was an effective boycotter, making progress and he hated her guts. [2] Riddick recruited participants from all sectors of Durham. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. Ann mar- Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. Ms. ANN ATWATER (Civil Rights Activist): Yes, he did, and I hated him just as hard as he hated me. Margaret Ratliff and her young sister Martha Ratliff were adopted by Michael Peterson after their parents, Elizabeth and George Ratliff, died. In 1967, Atwater took a 17-week training course where she learned about tenant rights, housing codes and how to organize community protests. How could I work with her? And me and him cried at that time, and we began to melt down towards one another. Ann Atwater, a black civil rights activist, talks about her friend. Ellis like an uncle and still keeps in touch with his family. When her job as a maid ended, she found herself living in a dilapidated house in North Durham on a welfare check of $57 a month. Born to sharecroppers on July 1, 1935, in Hillsboro, North Carolina, her meager beginnings were compounded when she found herself pregnant at age 14. I hated her guts. She was not afraid to voice her opinions loudly and proudly. Kathleen's body was found at the foot of the stairs, with trauma to her head that indicated she may have been struck. Both Atwater and Ellis have since passed away, but their legacies live today through their family members. "[11] Atwater and Ellis came to realize some commonalities, among them that their children were ostracized because of the parents' working together. Secure websites use HTTPS certificates. BLOCK: Civil rights activist Ann Atwater in Durham, North Carolina. She showed him her house and he invited her to his program. Ann Atwater found her voice as a community activist to stand up to slumlords and bigots and yet, one of the most transformative relationships in her life was with a Klansman. 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. Her mother died when she was 6. Such struggles helped shape Atwater as an activist. (Peterson maintains his innocence still to this day.) "We've made it through these years, together 30 years, and we're still friends," Ann said in the documentary. This is the story of Ann Atwater, political activist and desegregationist, the true story behind the 2019 film The Best of Enemies. 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. Ellis and Ann Atwater established during that time endured, as did Ellis change in attitude. SCOTUS Now Just Another Congressional Committee, Trump Ramps up Attacks on DeSantis: 'Dropping Like a Rock', Russian Strikes on Pavlohrad Aim to Hamper Ukraine's Counteroffensive, Greg Abbott Criticized for Response to Texas Shooting: 'A New Low', Democrat Sold First Republic Stock, Bought JP Morgan Before Collapse, Conservative Influencers Struggle With Countering Biden's Messaging. Ellis lived across the tracks in a neighborhood nearly as destitute, but white. The circumstances in which their mother died would raise suspicions about Michael Peterson's role in Kathleen Peterson's murder ahead of his trial. 25 Of Our Favorite Mothers Day Episodes From 'The Golden Girls' to 'Rugrats', It's Official! Michael had adopted the girls after their mother (and his good friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in a fall down the stairs. 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 indeed started tapping his feet and then clapping his hands along with the others. She seems an unlikely activist and hero. 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. [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. I didnt know who to blame. Such a system is still in use today. Midnight Sun star Patrick Schwarzenegger portrays Todd Peterson in The Staircase on HBO Max. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown. The Best of Enemies Durham Civil Rights activist Ann Atwater best known for the relationship she forged with her biggest enemy, a member of the Ku Klux Klan has died. If I told him I needed some money, he told me he needed something, we looked after each other. They also raised Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of their friends George and Elizabeth Ratliff. At one school meeting, a school board member got up in the middle of a conversation as she was making demands for school improvements. WebDid Ann Atwater's husband leave her to raise their children alone? Two years later, they had a daughter named Lydia. 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. He grabbed my hand and said, Dont give them the satisfaction.'. Born Ann George in the community of Hallsboro in Columbus County, North Carolina, she was pregnant and married at the age of 14. That was Howard Fuller with Operation Breakthrough, a program founded in Durham in 1964 to address poverty and inequality. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. The other co-chair selected was C.P. When Michael Peterson and Patricia Sue lived in Germany, they befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two daughters, Margaret and Martha. ELLIS (Civil Rights Advocate): I wanted to make them angry. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. The enmity was mutual, and the charrette seemed stuck. CP Ellis She was one of those legendary black women in the South who was simply fearless when facing white oppression. She was not afraid of white school board members, nor white city council members nor the local Klan and its methods of intimidation. He stayed in touch with me; I'd call him. Atwater initially declined to serve as co-chair, but reluctantly agreed to work with Ellis. Activist Ann Atwater Trump's latest attack addresses DeSantis' overseas trips to the U.K., Israel, Florida's Covid-19 record, and polling support for the 2024 Presidential race. 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. 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 didnt like integration. Categories: Atwater had made Ellis begin to question his way of thinking toward blacks. When Atwater got pregnant at 14, her father a deacon in the church grabbed his shotgun and walked to the house of the man responsible, French Wilson. Any discussion of the matter ended bogged down in a bureaucratic cycle of commissions, committees, councils, boards of inquiry, official investigations, delegations, panels a endless substitution of talk for action. Atwater, emboldened by community organizer Howard Fuller, discovered a passion for housing reform and a natural talent for leadership first with Operation Breakthrough, then as chairwoman for the United Organizations for Community Improvement. Atwater lived in a dilapidated house on an unpaved street in Durhams Hayti district, where she struggled to support her two daughters. The next day Atwater and Fuller went to Atwater's landlord to demand repairs for her house and, to Atwater's surprise, her landlord agreed to fix some of the problems. After that, Atwater went door to door telling people how they could get their landlords to fix their houses. It met for ten sessions. His relationship with Ann Atwater, who attended his funeral, became the subject of a book and a documentary film, and was the favourite of all the interviews conducted by Studs Terkel. No. The defense team claimed Kathleen was aware of Michael's sexuality and was fine with it, but Atwater did not believe her mother would have been accepting. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Womens History and Culture, February 1, 2006. Riddick set up a meeting, which is referred to in the movie as a charrette. State Government websites value user privacy. The experience inspired her to become involved in housing advocacy herself. Ann Atwater and C.P. 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. She married Willie Pettiford in 1975, and became a deacon at the Mount Calvary United Church of Christ. Ann actually gave Ellis' eulogy when he passed away. Ann Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary. Like fools wed been arguing about the wrong things and hadnt been doing anything to make the school system better.. Ann's daughter's school catches on fire, and C.P. Ms. ATWATER: No, it don't when you look back at it. NBC News reported that after seeing Kathleen's autopsy photos, Atwater called Margaret and said: The sisters stopped speaking after that. From then on, she demanded to be heard.
. Ellis. 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. "The couple were married a week later.. The real Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff,, Michael Peterson, Caitlin Atwater and Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore. Ann Atwater, interview by Jennifer Fiumara and Mary Cleary, The Southern Oral History Program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, December 7, 1995. Seeing photographs of that convinced Atwater that her mother's death was not just an accident. Today, Todd is believed to be living in Tennessee. Atwater also expressed her opinions at city council meetings, which had only white members. She and her husband relocated to Durham soon after in the hopes of better opportunities, but things shifted for the worst. The purpose of this charrette was to discuss school desegregation, a still contentious issue, and to draw up a series of recommendations to present to the school board. The strikes left 34 people injured, including three children, and caused widespread damage. C.P. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. Like in The Best of Enemies movie, examining the fact vs. fiction reveals that he did tear up his KKK membership card in public. Patrick Schwarzenegger and Dane DeHaan as Todd and Clayton Peterson in The Staircase on HBO Max. Ellis. [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. One of the workers said, Maam, this is the service for Clayborn Ellis. 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. 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. It was the only organization in the world that would take care of the white people. But much rang true. Ann Atwater: Grassroots Organizer and Veteran of Americas Freedom Struggle. 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.. BLOCK: Ann Atwater joins us from her home in Durham to share her memories of C.P. The children got them together and told them they wanted to go to school together. By the end of the charrette, Ellis gave up his leadership in the KKK. Welfare was only providing $57 a month, and she was leasing a dilapidated house where she was $100 behind her rent. 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. However, the prosecution did not accuse Peterson of Elizabeth Ratliff's death at his trial. Caitlin Atwater is Kathleen Peterson's daughter with her first husband, Fred Atwater. Caitlin Atwater would go on to become a key witness on the prosecution side during Michael Peterson's trial. They hated each other. ", Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. But in the early 1970s, he had a remarkable change of heart and mind, and he became a civil rights advocate. [citation needed], One tactic Atwater used to tackle this problem was using the power of numbers. When asked if she believed Michael killed her mother, she said: When prompted for a possible reason why, Atwater called it "truly a culmination of a storm," that might have come from financial issues and secrets within the marriage. We saw that each other, you know, was making it. 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. Ann George Atwater (July 1, 1935 June 20, 2016) was an American civil rights activist in Durham, North Carolina. As a chair of a housing committee, Atwater organized protests and rallies calling for better housing conditions for the poor. But my pastor was sitting there and saw me holding the knife. The Durham medical examiner concluded Ratliff's cause of death was "homicide". 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. I always said if they'd said something to me, I was going to knock the hell out of them with my Bible. 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. On the evening of her death, the Petersons had dinner with Ratliff and her daughters. "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. She turned those chairs back around to force them to face her. Atwater quickly rose to become a formidable spokeswoman for the poor in Durham. Hatin America is hard to do because you cant see it to hate it. 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. 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. She credits her parents for teaching her the value of discipline and hard work, which has been the foundation for her success as a community activist. Atwater disliked the lack of respect many whites showed for blacks. He grew up in the tobacco and textile town of Durham, North Carolina. 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. We didnt have to worry about any air, because the cracks were all along the house, Atwater later recalled, you could just stand on the outside and look on the inside, you didnt have to go to the window. -School for Conversion Interview. She said that after "all was said and done, I felt confident that I knew what happened. Jeter Downs needs to play to develop. [9] Atwater mobilized poor blacks in Durham to help them stand up for themselves. "She didn't particularly like the Klan," C.P. Bill Riddick, a professor and consultant, was contracted by union organizers to help solve the crisis. Ann Atwater According to PopSugar, she has twins and lives in northern Virginia. Ellis, an exalted cyclops of the local Ku Klux Klan in Durham. 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. Because the white councilmen did not want to listen to a black woman talk, they turned their chairs away from her. What happened I almost killed C.P. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. The pair weren't the first choices. She was 80. Ann's dad had encouraged her baby's father to marry her. This wasnt actually true there was no house waiting for her when she arrived in Durham. The Society's Olivia DeJonge portrays Caitlin Atwater in HBO Max's The Staircase. Ann's dad had encouraged her baby's father to marry her. I began to blame it on black people. And the funny part about it, we stayed friends all these years. She became an expert on housing policies; she copied and handed out welfare regulation manuals so that people could learn their rights, such as asking landlords to fix substandard conditions. This article was published more than4 years ago. 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. was up raging and ranting, that's when I wanted to cut his head off. Ellis was known for making provocative and inaccurate remarks expressing his fears and resentments of blacks, such as: Blacks are taking over the city. 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. WebEventually Atwater divorced him and raised their two daughters on her own as a single mother. He grabbed my hand and said, Dont give them the satisfaction. . Ann Atwater, Durham Civil Rights Activist, Dies C.P. On November 25, 1985 Elizabeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase with injuries to her head. [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. The other co-chair would be C.P. Ellis and his wife Mary had a son who they called Punkin'. They divorced. Ann Atwater, a black civil rights activist, talks about her friend. Yes. In 1971 Atwater was asked to co-chair a group looking for answers for the problems of desegregation of Durham Schools. Ellis Says Klan Days Have Been Over for Awhile,, This page was last edited on 1 February 2022, at 22:25. Ellis discovered that their life experiences weren't all that different. Yes. Ann Nakia Green, Atwater's granddaughter, now lives in Texas. She moved to Durham in 1953, where her husband, William French, had relocated. She didn't feel that she could ever achieve true closure, but she could move forward. 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. Ms. ATWATER: Well, thank you for talking to me. 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. 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. We were at a meeting downtown together, said Ann Atwater years later, and he kept yelling nigger this and nigger that. we would see whose God would be the strongest, my God or his God. That was real, said Ann-Nakia Green, Atwaters 35-year-old granddaughter. 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. Copyright 2005 NPR. The school's Ann Atwater Freedom Library continues her work of "making surprising friendships possible".[15]. But then if I look back at it through my Bible, through God's work, God had a plan for both of us. All I had was God holding my back and that's it. 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? That process has been portrayed in the movies, The Best of Enemies, and An Unlikely Friendship, and in the Studs Terkel book Race: How Blacks & Whites Think & Feel about the American Obsession.. In front of a crowd, C.P. Before Peterson's trial, the Durham court ordered the exhumation of Ratliff's embalmed body, buried in Texas, for a second autopsy in April 2003. Atwater, who died in 2016 at the age of 80, defied stereotypes. She was making progress. Ellis has died at age 78. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary. 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. His action resulted in death threats and he was shunned by a significant portion of his community. She was taught that whites were better and that their needs came before hers. Atwater changed history in Durham, refusing to be ignored as she demanded better schools and living conditions for black residents. Those collaborative processes involved ten days of town meetings among numerous residents, in order to hear as many voices as possible and to resolve issues related to implementation of the court order. It was during this series of meetings in the summer of 1971 that C.P. She was making progress. 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. I didnt like them. Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. 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.. Revelations about Margaret and Martha's birth family also made Atwater doubt Michael's innocence, according to CBS News. Groups, Social Justice. The program helped people gain confidence through a series of tasks to build achievement. 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. "They would turn their chairs around, and they were chairs that wheeled around. So I told C.P. Ultimately, the school board disregarded the proposals put forth by the charrette, but the friendship C.P. Civil rights activist and former Ku Klux Klansman C.P. Civil rights activist and former Ku Klux Klansman C.P. Starting from the very beginning, Ann Atwater was born in Hallsboro as one of nine children and got married in her early teenage years. And when I'd walk up to the school building, I had my white Bible in my hand. Ellis were named co-chairs of the Durham, North Carolinas charrette S.O.S., Save Our Schools.. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. What are you gonna do? " the father demanded, according to the book The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson, upon which the movie is based. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. Before the trial, Ratliff's body was exhumed and autopsied, at which point a second autopsy suggested that she, too, had suffered head trauma, according to CNN. Ahead of a retrial in 2017, Michael Peterson entered an Alford plea to a manslaughter charge and was released from prison. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my handbag and opened the blade. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. Story of unlikely friendship in Durham hits He was chosen to chair the meetings, along with his polar opposite, a militant African-American leader of Durham's civil rights movement, Ann Atwater. Ellis were the best choices to present a variety of viewpoints from opposing sides, so they had them chair the meeting together. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. [10][pageneeded]. They would turn their back to us, and I would walk up and knock 'em back around, you know, let them know that we were talking to them." Ms. Atwater, Mr. Ellis there saying he hated your guts going into these meetings. Accuracy and availability may vary. Caitlin Atwater's quotes on Michael Peterson's, Caitlin Atwater was the daughter of Kathleen, Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death, Atwater view her stepfather in another light. BLOCK: You know, it seems like such an unlikely transformation. Ann Atwater and C.P. And that plan was to put us there to make sure that this school integration would be done peacefully, and that's what happened. Like his older brother Clayton, Todd Peterson stood by his father's side during the trial and today. Peterson was the last person to see her alive. Game of Thrones alum Sophie Turner portrays Margaret Ratliff in HBO Max's The Staircase and The Stand's Odessa Young takes on the role of Martha Ratliff. Ellis, Ann Atwater's voice was deep and powerful, and she had the ability to energize her audience. Todd Peterson is the second son of Michael Peterson, from his first marriage to Patricia Sue.Does Aldi Accept Apple Pay For Instacart,
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