"We went to the schoolhouse and we found out that the teachers there were out of their field," recalled Atwater. [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. They showed community members how to cultivate gardens or how to chip in and fundraise together to improve their neighborhoods. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my handbag and opened the blade. Elliss funeral in 2005, Ann Atwater delivered his eulogy. But the job didnt last, and Atwater went to the Department of Social Services to apply for help. They presented ways to improve curriculum, in addition to making it easier for students' voices to be heard. 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. Dig deeper into The Best of Enemies true story by watching the Ann Atwater interview and documentary below. 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. [citation needed], One tactic Atwater used to tackle this problem was using the power of numbers. NBC News reported that after seeing Kathleen's autopsy photos, Atwater called Margaret and said: The sisters stopped speaking after that. 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. 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. Courtesy of STXfilmsAnn Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary An Unlikely Friendship. Fuller looked at the house and asked Atwater if shed like help in fixing it. 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. As a result, there was no one to direct the Klan's Youth Corp and the program disbanded. I began to blame it on black people. We looked at each other. She was not afraid of white school board members, nor white city council members nor the local Klan and its methods of intimidation. Ellis. Her first baby died soon after birth. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. She became an effective activist and leader when advocating for black rights, such as better private housing. Over the course of the 10 days that they co-chaired the committee on school desegregation, Ann Atwater and C.P. 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. According to NBC News, Atwater called Kathleen and Michael "the most ideal parents" and she was thrilled by their marriage because it meant "a permanent sleepover" with Michael's adopted daughters, Margaret and Martha. Ann Atwater and C.P. In the early 1950s, Atwater and her daughter moved to Durham to join Wilson. As far as he was concerned, it was the savior of the white people. They would turn the chairs around and demand to be heard. 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 and Claiborne P. Ellis had much in common, although it would take years of battling each other across the racial divide before they were able to see their similarities. So, where are Michael Peterson's children now? She died in 2016 having won many awards and accolades for her work for the disadvantaged. Yes. 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. I didnt like them. Ellis, who died of Alzheimer's in 2005, became a champion of union and labor organizations, working as an AFL-CIO organizer. 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. She was a member of several community groups and local Democratic Party vice president in 1968. If we fail, at least no one can say we didnt try. 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. Ann Atwater is best known for her work in civil rights, and for her unlikely friendship with Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. He worked multiple jobs to support his family, but like Atwater, he barely found the funds to make ends meet. [10][pageneeded]. Her bold actions so surprised the councilmen that they had to listen to her. His father and local community blamed poor blacks for their problems, and reasoned that blacks were to blame for why they could never get ahead regardless of how hard they worked. 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. They also raised Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of their friends George and Elizabeth Ratliff. 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. Over 10 days, the opposing sides met and tension grew. WebKathleen had one daughter named Caitlin from her first marriage to physicist Fred Atwater, per PopSugar. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. 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. 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. She was 80. 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. A housing organizer came by one evening to ask if she needed help to get repairs. Caitlin Atwater would go on to become a key witness on the prosecution side during Michael Peterson's trial. 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. All rights reserved. Kathleen's body was found at the foot of the stairs, with trauma to her head that indicated she may have been struck. The other co-chair was C.P. However, more prominent members of the community felt that the issue was too hot to get involved in. However, Yes, this comes straight from Diane Bloom's 2002 documentary, No. They don't have any evidence to some of the things that they do and some of the opinions they make. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. Sitting down with his nemesis, he realized that his struggles were her struggles too, and that they shared a fundamental commonality of experience. [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. That first meeting marked the start of her involvement in helping the poor black community fight poverty. Michael had adopted the girls after their mother (and his good friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in a fall down the stairs. Ellis' funeral on Saturday. Ellis discovered that their life experiences weren't all that different. He invited Atwater to a meeting and to join. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. Ellis has died at age 78. In 1971 Atwater was asked to co-chair a group looking for answers for the problems of desegregation of Durham Schools. I didnt like Ann boycotting stores. is the president of the KKK, and cares for his children. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. [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. (modern). 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. According to PopSugar, she has twins and lives in northern Virginia. Ellis. One evening a housing organizer came by and asked whether she needed help to get repairs made to the house and invited her to a community meeting. When Atwater had first met C. P. Ellis at a previous Durham city council meeting, she felt great resentment toward him. Ellis died in 2005 and Atwater was asked to deliver the eulogy. 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. Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer defied men and presidents who tried to silence her. The pair weren't the first choices. Then, when it was nearly over, Atwater and Ellis had a change of heart. And she was an effective boycotter, too. 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. Caitlin Atwater was the daughter of Kathleen and her first husband, Fred Atwater, though she was very close with the entire Peterson family. So I told C.P. "The city council people didn't want to look at us because we were black," said Ann. After Michael Peterson and Patricia Sue divorced in 1985, Clayton and his younger brother Todd went to live with their mother. Clayton Peterson was sentenced to four years in prison for a failed attempt to firebomb the Duke University Administration Building, reports Metro.US. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. 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. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. Groups, Social Justice. She showed him her house and he invited her to his program. Margaret Ratliff and her young sister Martha Ratliff were adopted by Michael Peterson after their parents, Elizabeth and George Ratliff, died. Ann Atwater was a pioneer of community organizing and black advocacy. On the final night of the charrette, Ellis stood before the crowd and ripped up his Klan card. It was during this series of meetings in the summer of 1971 that C.P. Today, Margaret resides in California, and Martha relocated to Colorado. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. She said, "I realized there was definitely another side to him.". "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. The other co-chair selected was C.P. C.P. 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. 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. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Womens History and Culture, February 1, 2006. Ms. ATWATER: Yeah. 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. Ellis began to change. 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. WebDid Ann Atwater's husband leave her to raise their children alone? Ellis were the best choices to present a variety of viewpoints from opposing sides, so they had them chair the meeting together. From then on, she demanded to be heard. Ellis had a change of heart after a 10-day forum on integration of schools in Durham, N.C. Ellis has died at age 78. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Midnight Sun star Patrick Schwarzenegger portrays Todd Peterson in The Staircase on HBO Max. Today, he lives in Maryland with his two children, according to The News and Observer. And we showed that towards each other up until we went into the 10-day meeting.. [2], After Atwater co-led the charrette, she continued to work with the poor and middle-class black community in Durham. 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. 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. The experience inspired her to become involved in housing advocacy herself. She first became involved in activism after local housing advocates helped her be able to keep her home when she fell behind on rent. -School for Conversion. 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. "We were chosen to be co-chairs to integrate the school system peacefully," said Atwater (School for Conversion). Ann Atwater Pushed To Integrate Her Citys Schools And Got A Klansman Named C.P. There were also unexpected revelations about Michael's sexuality and how he had come to adopt his daughters that raised questions about his supposedly happy marriage with Kathleen. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. Local leaders, in addition to the organizer of the charrette, Bill Riddick (portrayed by Babou Ceesay in the movie), decided that Ann Atwater and C.P. But both Ann Atwater and C.P. He organized a federally-funded sit-down which would rule on the issue one way or another, held for 10 days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Atwater was chosen as one of the charrettes leaders. Ellis, Ann Atwater's voice was deep and powerful, and she had the ability to energize her audience. 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. I almost killed C.P. She was making progress. I know if we weren't gonna look after our children, nobody else would. But to see--as I tell everybody, God had a hand on that because in the meetings C.P. C.P. BLOCK: You know, it seems like such an unlikely transformation. C.P. She said, 'Now, you ain't going to take over that thing.'" 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. And we showed that towards each other up until we went into the (unintelligible) a 10-day meeting. Moving past race, they began to focus on other issues, such as the academic quality of Durhams schools. The strikes left 34 people injured, including three children, and caused widespread damage. Ellis (portrayed by Sam Rockwell). 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. 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. In 1967, Atwater took a 17-week training course where she learned about tenant rights, housing codes and how to organize community protests. Ann Atwater and C.P. Ignoring her and the parents with her was a mistake. With her persistence, the office set up private booths for meetings with each client. Theres no room with the Nationals. 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 always said if they'd said something to me, I was going to knock the hell out of them with my Bible. 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. 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. I didnt like the demonstrations downtown, recalled Ellis some 30 years after the charrette. Yes. Ann G. Atwater was born on July 1, 1935, in Hillsboro, North Carolina. Ellis had regularly been attending city council meetings, school board meetings, and county meetings to oppose civil rights changes and its activists. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, February 1, 2006. Yes. Caitlin Atwater is Kathleen Peterson's daughter with her first husband, Fred Atwater. (Peterson maintains his innocence still to this day.) Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. [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 other co-chair would be C.P. Ann's dad had encouraged her baby's father to marry her. Students were getting into fights at schools over the issue. 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. He grabbed my hand and said, Dont give them the satisfaction.'. Ellis were named co-chairs of the Durham, North Carolinas charrette S.O.S., Save Our Schools.. One of the workers said, Maam, this is the service for Clayborn Ellis. Ms. ATWATER: Well, in the first five days of the meetings, we had a choir come in, a gospel choir, a church choir--to come in and do some singing. From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Sadly, Elizabeth would die soon after in 1985 and Michael Peterson became the guardian of her two children. Ellis and his wife Mary had a son who they called Punkin'. When Michael Peterson and Patricia Sue lived in Germany, they befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two daughters, Margaret and Martha. Conservative town leaders were largely receptive to his message. 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 was known for making provocative and inaccurate remarks expressing his fears and resentments of blacks, such as: Blacks are taking over the city. 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. Atwater changed history in Durham, refusing to be ignored as she demanded better schools and living conditions for black residents. 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." Ellis remained close until his death in 2005, and Ellis family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. 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.. ", Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. 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. At this point, the couple had another daughter, Marilyn. Most of Michael Peterson's children stood by their father but stepdaughter Caitlin Atwater believed he was guilty of killing her mother, Kathleen Peterson. Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. Historical Commission Votes to Study Relocation of Confederate Monuments, Summary of Public Hearings by the State Capitol African American Memorial Committee. It was the only organization in the world that would take care of the white people. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. Because the white councilmen did not want to listen to a black woman talk, they turned their chairs away from her. 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. As a chair of a housing committee, Atwater organized protests and rallies calling for better housing conditions for the poor. Ellis and Atwater spoke together about their experience at events around the country, and at C.P.

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