Ellis. Ellis discovered that their life experiences weren't all that different. 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. Historical Commission Votes to Study Relocation of Confederate Monuments, Summary of Public Hearings by the State Capitol African American Memorial Committee. Ellis Says Klan Days Have Been Over for Awhile,, This page was last edited on 1 February 2022, at 22:25. (Peterson maintains his innocence still to this day.) I didnt like them. Civil rights activist and former Ku Klux Klansman C.P. To learn more, view our full privacy policy. After the course, Atwater had found her lifes purpose. She was a fierce fighter for rights for poor African Americans who shook up the white power establishment in Durham, N.C. in the 1960s. Ann's granddaughter says that she's always viewed C.P. Ellis came to realize that blacks were not suppressing poor whites, and that the two groups shared problems. Fuller met with each resident enrolled in Operation Breakthrough, getting to know them personally and helping identify issues to be fixed. She had already been friends with the girls when their parents met and connected. 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. Michael had adopted the girls after their mother (and his good friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in a fall down the stairs. WebAtwater lived in a dilapidated house on an unpaved street in Durhams Hayti district, where she struggled to support her two daughters. She was born in Hallsboro, N.C., the daughter of sharecroppers. I knew what happened to my mom." Ms. ATWATER: No, it don't when you look back at it. She didn't feel that she could ever achieve true closure, but she could move forward. After their second daughter, Marilyn, was born, he left the family and moved to Richmond for a better job, according to Davidson. 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. And she was an effective boycotter, too. Ann Atwater organizes neighbors after completing Community Action Training with the North Carolina Fund. She and Ellis continued their friendship to the end of their lives. 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. 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. Ellis, whos played by Sam Rockwell. As a chair of a housing committee, Atwater organized protests and rallies calling for better housing conditions for the poor. Two years later, she had another baby, whom she named Lydia, Davidson wrote. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. BLOCK: Ann Atwater joins us from her home in Durham to share her memories of C.P. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my handbag and opened the blade. Yes. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. 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. That was Howard Fuller with Operation Breakthrough, a program founded in Durham in 1964 to address poverty and inequality. 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. I didnt like integration. However, they eventually joined their father in Durham, North Carolina, and spent the rest of their younger and adolescent years there. When Ellis, who later became a labor rights activist, died in 2005, his family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. -The Best of Enemies book. Caitlin Atwater's quotes on Michael Peterson's involvement in Kathleen's death explain what eventually made her question what happened the night her mother died. But to see--as I tell everybody, God had a hand on that because in the meetings C.P. 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. And the funny part about it, we stayed friends all these years. Ellis and Ann Atwater established during that time endured, as did Ellis change in attitude. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. 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. I didnt know who to blame. 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. A lock icon or https:// means youve safely connected to the official website. He worked in the tobacco factory and she as a domestic, but he turned to drink. The program helped people gain confidence through a series of tasks to build achievement. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. She turned those chairs back around to force them to face her. The other was C.P. Her parents were sharecroppers, and her father was also a deacon of the nearby church. C.P. Im not following you any further. Soon, she divorced him. She was making progress. So, where are Michael Peterson's children now? That first meeting marked the start of her involvement in helping the poor black community fight poverty. She learned to take second place.[2]. 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.. 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. 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. So what I did, when he went to get up, I hit him over the head with the receiver of the telephone," Atwater recalled in a 2010 interview. Ellis said of his wife, "but she endured it because I enjoyed it, see? Ellis quit the KKK. The movie, which tells the story of the unlikely friendship that developed between Atwater and C.P. Dig deeper into The Best of Enemies true story by watching the Ann Atwater interview and documentary below. [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. The only foods she could afford for her children were rice, cabbage, and fatback. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. 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.. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. She was 80. According to PopSugar, she has twins and lives in northern Virginia. 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. Kathleen's body was found at the foot of the stairs, with trauma to her head that indicated she may have been struck. Atwater had made Ellis begin to question his way of thinking toward blacks. As a result, there was no one to direct the Klan's Youth Corp and the program disbanded. 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. The Best of Enemies true story reveals that Ann Atwater got married at the age of 14 and moved to Durham, NC in 1953. The Housing Authority, part of an old boy network headed by autocratic cotton mill executive Carvie Oldham, failed to enforce housing codes. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. Newsweek has everything you need to know. I didn't like Ann boycotting stores. In the end, Ellis repudiated racism and the Klan and they became lifelong friends. She was not afraid of white school board members, nor white city council members nor the local Klan and its methods of intimidation. I didn't like the demonstrations downtown, Ellis told NPR in a 1996 interview. Her mother died when she was 6. Some people may not have liked that she was demanding and outspoken, but those qualities enabled her to be a successful activist and organizer. Ellis lived across the tracks in a neighborhood nearly as destitute, but white. 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. Two years later, they had a daughter named Lydia. Kevin Washington, C.P. In particular, Kathleen's daughter Caitlin Atwater disassociated herself from the family, believing her stepfather Michael Peterson played a role in her mother's death. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. The two became lifelong friends, often appearing together in interviews and documentaries. 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. He renounced his Klan membership, became lifelong friends with Atwater and went on to organize black and white labor unions. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. People worked at job-training, took after-school tutoring, or became educated as to their rights. When he requested that she and the two girls come, Atwater wrote a letter saying: I already followed you to Durham. [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. [2], After Atwater co-led the charrette, she continued to work with the poor and middle-class black community in Durham. Functionality of the site should not be affected, but things may look different. According to The Best of Enemies true story, Ann says that C.P. Groups, Social Justice. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my hand bag and opened the blade. 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. [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. Ann Atwaters life didnt start off easy. VarietyThe Best of Enemies depicts the unexpected friendship between Ann Atwater and C.P. He had similar feelings, saying, "It was impossible. The strikes left 34 people injured, including three children, and caused widespread damage. 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? 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. 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. Midnight Sun star Patrick Schwarzenegger portrays Todd Peterson in The Staircase on HBO Max. You gotta have somethin to look at to hate. 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. Like fools wed been arguing about the wrong things and hadnt been doing anything to make the school system better.. Do you look back, and does it make sense to you? 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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." He invited Atwater to a meeting and to join. Welfare was only providing $57 a month, and she was leasing a dilapidated house where she was $100 behind her rent. "We were chosen to be co-chairs to integrate the school system peacefully," said Atwater (School for Conversion). "I just lend whatever God gives me to give out. In researching The Best of Enemies' historical accuracy, we learned that C.P. Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. The real Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff,, Michael Peterson, Caitlin Atwater and Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore. "He changed from a Klansman to a Christian, and they said I had sold out, that he was a n**ger lover." ", Ann Atwater continued her work fighting for racial equality as a grass roots organizer, passing away in 2016. But the job didnt last, and Atwater went to the Department of Social Services to apply for help. Like Ann Atwater, Claiborne Paul Ellis was raised in a life of poverty. He was blind, deaf, and suffered from an intellectual disability. was up raging and ranting, that's when I wanted to cut his head off. is afraid that the black children will come to the white schools. C.P. C.P. Sadly, Elizabeth would die soon after in 1985 and Michael Peterson became the guardian of her two children. She and her husband relocated to Durham soon after in the hopes of better opportunities, but things shifted for the worst. I didn't like them. Ellis were named co-chairs of the Durham, North Carolinas charrette S.O.S., Save Our Schools.. 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. He grew up in the tobacco and textile town of Durham, North Carolina. 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. After marrying at the age of thirteen to French Wilson, Ann moved with him from the countryside to Durham in hopes of better job opportunities, as the city had large tobacco and textile industries. 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. "And then he sat down and I snatched the phone out the wall, and we sat down and we had a meeting.. His turnabout came through a 10-day community meeting on school desegregation in 1971. But my pastor was sitting there and saw me holding the knife. Ellis died last week in Durham at the age of 78. She made no bones about taking them out if necessary. Margaret Ratliff and her young sister Martha Ratliff were adopted by Michael Peterson after their parents, Elizabeth and George Ratliff, died. He went on to organize labor unions for both blacks and whites. Me and him was over there mad with each other, but we wasn't getting anything done that the children wanted. The other co-chair selected was C.P. Yes. They don't have any evidence to some of the things that they do and some of the opinions they make. 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. Peterson was the last person to see her alive. Despite the suspicions surrounding their mother's death, Margaret and Martha Ratliff continued to support Michael Peterson, believing he did not kill Kathleen. "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. She was born in Hallsboro, N.C., the daughter of sharecroppers. Accuracy and availability may vary. Ellis has died at age 78. Then, when it was nearly over, Atwater and Ellis had a change of heart. Both Atwater and Ellis have since passed away, but their legacies live today through their family members. Ann Atwater was used to struggling, but she hit some truly hard times. was sitting there, and first he started clapping his hands. WebDid Ann Atwater's husband leave her to raise their children alone? 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. 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. Revelations about Margaret and Martha's birth family also made Atwater doubt Michael's innocence, according to CBS News. Conservative town leaders were largely receptive to his message. They also raised Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of their friends George and Elizabeth Ratliff. From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. And that plan was to put us there to make sure that this school integration would be done peacefully, and that's what happened. She did. If I told him I needed some money, he told me he needed something, we looked after each other. Ann Atwater and C.P. Elliss funeral in 2005, Ann Atwater delivered his eulogy. 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. Todd Peterson is the second son of Michael Peterson, from his first marriage to Patricia Sue. To her knowledge, making demands from a landlord was unheard of and she had no idea that she had the right to do so. She was also not afraid to tell anyone to go to hell if she felt like it. [7][pageneeded] Afterward she attended the Operation Breakthrough meeting and discussed how the poor had to work together to get the government's attention in order to help solve poverty and what her concerns were. 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. Throughout Michael Peterson's arrest, trial, and 17 years of appeals, the Peterson children remained divided over their father's innocence. Her mother died when she was 6. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. P. Ellis Says Klan Days Have Been Over for Awhile,, Cliff Bellarny, Bold Measure for Difficult Times,, Operation Breakthrough (Durham, North Carolina), Maegan Lobo-Berg, "The Reality of Self-Help in Durhams Operation Breakthrough", "Durham civil rights leader Ann Atwater honored with Freedom Library", "Durham civil rights activist Ann Atwater dies at 80", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ann_Atwater&oldid=1069357903, Activists for African-American civil rights, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from April 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. C.P. But in the early 1970s, he had a remarkable change of heart and mind, and he became a civil rights advocate. All I had was God holding my back and that's it. She showed that it was possible for whites and blacks, even with conflicting views, to negotiate and collaborate by establishing some common ground. While Ratliff's murder remains unsolved, Michael was convicted of Kathleen's. She knew that some welfare workers were guilty of this. I know if we weren't gonna look after our children, nobody else would. Atwater quickly rose to become a formidable spokeswoman for the poor in Durham.
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