I began to blame it on black people. He convinced her landlord to fix her house, helped pay back her debt, and helped her find her path. 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. With her persistence, the office set up private booths for meetings with each client. Ellis did rip up his KKK card, swearing I never did go back to the Klan after I left that school program.. However, more prominent members of the community felt that the issue was too hot to get involved in. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. C.P. Atwater told Dateline correspondent Dennis Murphy that she had lost "far more than just my mother. She and her husband relocated to Durham soon after in the hopes of better opportunities, but things shifted for the worst. Ellis said of his wife, "but she endured it because I enjoyed it, see? But to see--as I tell everybody, God had a hand on that because in the meetings C.P. 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. Todd Peterson is the second son of Michael Peterson, from his first marriage to Patricia Sue. So, where are Michael Peterson's children now? During his father's trial and lengthy prison sentence, Clayton stood by his side. Clayton Peterson was sentenced to four years in prison for a failed attempt to firebomb the Duke University Administration Building, reports Metro.US. Ann's dad had encouraged her baby's father to marry her. 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. "They would turn their chairs around, and they were chairs that wheeled around. 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. 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. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. In an NPR interview in 1996, C.P. She showed up and sat down in the chapel, Wilson-Hartgrove said in an interview. On the evening of her death, the Petersons had dinner with Ratliff and her daughters. 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. The real Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff,, Michael Peterson, Caitlin Atwater and Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore. The two realized they had been arguing about the wrong things, that they had the same hopes for their children and a lot in common as poor people. 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. 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.. 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. "We've made it through these years, together 30 years, and we're still friends," Ann said in the documentary. They got all the good jobs and youre all sittin here letting em do it. He said that black people should stay on the other side of the railroad because they had no business in town. Ann Atwater was a pioneer of community organizing and black advocacy. I pulled out the knife that I kept in my hand bag and opened the blade. She was taught that whites were better and that their needs came before hers. In 1967, Ann Atwater, a black civil rights advocate and community organizer, arrived for an appointment with a white school board member in Durham, N.C. As Atwater was making demands for improvements to the local schools, the white school board member made one very serious mistake. As an adult, he worked as a service station attendant before saving up enough money to buy a small service station in a factory town. 25 Of Our Favorite Mothers Day Episodes From 'The Golden Girls' to 'Rugrats', It's Official! "All of this drastically changed my life, I mean, my thinking. It helped participants gain confidence that they could achieve change and escape poverty. Sitting down with his nemesis, he realized that his struggles were her struggles too, and that they shared a fundamental commonality of experience. 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 Durham federal district court had just ordered desegregation of schools to comply with the Supreme Court ruling, an action which was still opposed by many residents. Ellis like an uncle and still keeps in touch with his family. Ann's granddaughter says that she's always viewed C.P. Ellis remained close until his death in 2005, and Ellis family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. That was Howard Fuller with Operation Breakthrough, a program founded in Durham in 1964 to address poverty and inequality. 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. 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. Ellis lived across the tracks in a neighborhood nearly as destitute, but white. I hated her guts.. I always said if they'd said something to me, I was going to knock the hell out of them with my Bible. Through Fuller, Ann Atwater was introduced to Operation Breakthrough. Yes. In the 1960s, eighty percent of black Durham residents lived in substandard housing, a figure which had remained unchanged since the 1920s. Ellis. 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. 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. Caitlin Atwater would go on to become a key witness on the prosecution side during Michael Peterson's trial. Some people may not have liked that she was demanding and outspoken, but those qualities enabled her to be a successful activist and organizer. 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. He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. Her mother died when she was 6. Ms. ATWATER: Yeah. 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. Atwater was an unlikely civil rights activist. Atwater married Willie Pettiford in 1975 and eventually had two daughters, the late Lydia Green and Marilynn Turner. She told Dateline: According to ABC News, that made Atwater view her stepfather in another light. Ellis told an NPR interviewer that Atwater was an effective boycotter, making progress and he hated her guts. I didnt like them. 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.". The film tells the story of Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson) and Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis was known for making provocative and inaccurate remarks expressing his fears and resentments of blacks, such as: Blacks are taking over the city. Breakthrough was a project designed to alleviate poverty by teaching residents how to address its root causes, and by organizing the community to create a social security net. Daughter Ellis, an exalted cyclops of the local Ku Klux Klan in Durham. Ms. Atwater, Mr. Ellis there saying he hated your guts going into these meetings. It was learning more during the trial that made Atwater believe that Michael could have been involved in Kathleen's death. 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. Yes. We were at a meeting downtown together, said Ann Atwater years later, and he kept yelling nigger this and nigger that. I pulled out, I had a little small knife, pocket knife." Activist 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. Ann Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary. Secure websites use HTTPS certificates. While Ratliff's murder remains unsolved, Michael was convicted of Kathleen's. From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Accuracy and availability may vary. Ellis had epiphanies. Im not following you any further.. Ann actually gave Ellis' eulogy when he passed away. That first meeting marked the start of her involvement in helping the poor black community fight poverty. However, her husband soon left her, and she was faced with raising their two children on her own. 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. BLOCK: Why would C.P. BLOCK: You know, it seems like such an unlikely transformation. She is best known as one of the co-chairs of a charrette in 1971 to reduce school violence and ensure peaceful school desegregation. Two years later, they had a daughter named Lydia. 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. But in the early 1970s, he had a remarkable change of heart and mind, and he became a civil rights advocate. Most of Michael Peterson's children stood by their father but stepdaughter Caitlin Atwater believed he was guilty of killing her mother, Kathleen Peterson. They don't have any evidence to some of the things that they do and some of the opinions they make. Ellis. Ellis, read about Malcolm Xs brutal assassination and Americas struggle for civil rights. Over the course of the 10 days that they co-chaired the committee on school desegregation, Ann Atwater and C.P. 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.. ELLIS (Civil Rights Advocate): I wanted to make them angry. She organized groups of women who had to visit the welfare offices frequently and had them push for change. Civil rights activist and former Ku Klux Klansman C.P. Atwater had made Ellis begin to question his way of thinking toward blacks. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary, Yes. As seen in The Staircase documentary on Netflix, Clayton's first son Dorian visits Michael Peterson in prison as a baby and towards the end of the documentary, his wife Becky is seen pregnant with their second child, Lucien. Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer defied men and presidents who tried to silence her. 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." Up to that point, we didnt know each other. BLOCK: Well, Ann Atwater, thanks very much for talking with us. Atwater lived in a dilapidated house on an unpaved street in Durhams Hayti district, where she struggled to support her two daughters. Kevin Washington, C.P. Ellis has died at age 78. She was making progress. 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 text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Ellis were named co-chairs of the Durham, North Carolinas charrette S.O.S., Save Our Schools.. 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. However, the prosecution did not accuse Peterson of Elizabeth Ratliff's death at his trial. WebKathleen had one daughter named Caitlin from her first marriage to physicist Fred Atwater, per PopSugar. 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. And when I'd walk up to the school building, I had my white Bible in my hand. As soon as he got close to me, I was going to grab his head from behind and cut him from ear to ear. 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. They would turn the chairs around and demand to be heard. But Atwater's husband struggled financially, and became alcoholic and abusive. The natural person for me to hate would be black people, because my father before me was a member of the Klan. A housing organizer came by one evening to ask if she needed help to get repairs. Her pastor was there, grabbed the hand holding a knife and stopped her. Im not following you any further. Soon, she divorced him. 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. The two were fiercely dedicated to improving the prospects of their people, Atwater as a militant activist for housing reform, and Ellis as the Exalted Cyclops of Durhams Ku Klux Klan. Ann Atwater, interview by Sean Aery, Sallie Bingham Center for Womens History and Culture, February 1, 2006. Ellis quit the KKK. I didnt like integration. "They said I sold out because I worked with a Klansman," recalled Atwater. (Peterson maintains his innocence still to this day.) He moved to Richmond seeking better work and asked Atwater to join him there with their two daughters, she said no. 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 Best of Enemies book. He was to tear it apart. Both Atwater and Ellis have since passed away, but their legacies live today through their family members. I had to hate somebody. Caitlin Atwater is Kathleen Peterson's daughter with her first husband, Fred Atwater. They presented ways to improve curriculum, in addition to making it easier for students' voices to be heard. She spoke at C.P. She was 80. Because the white councilmen did not want to listen to a black woman talk, they turned their chairs away from her. [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. However, they eventually joined their father in Durham, North Carolina, and spent the rest of their younger and adolescent years there. This website is undergoing design changes. She hit him over the head with a telephone receiver and he sat down to listen. The program helped people gain confidence through a series of tasks to build achievement. Ellis has died at age 78. Diane Fanning in her book Written in Blood: A True Story of Murder and A Deadly 16-Year Old Secret That Tore a Family Apart, details how Todd Peterson allegedly told police officers that he believed Kathleen Peterson's death to be alcohol-related. -School for Conversion. Ellis were the best choices to present a variety of viewpoints from opposing sides, so they had them chair the meeting together. I'm Michele Norris. The two became lifelong friends, often appearing together in interviews and documentaries. 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. She made dresses out of flour and rice bags for her daughters to wear. Atwater, who died in 2016 at the age of 80, defied stereotypes. (modern). Ann Atwater 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." Atwater initially declined to serve as co-chair, but reluctantly agreed to work with Ellis. The Society's Olivia DeJonge portrays Caitlin Atwater in HBO Max's The Staircase. The poor blacks of Durham had to fight both racial and class divisions: one against the whites who claimed superiority and another against the wealthier blacks who did not want to associate themselves with the lower class. Today, Margaret resides in California, and Martha relocated to Colorado. Civil-Rights Activist, Ex-Klansman C.P. Ellis : NPR That was real, said Ann-Nakia Green, Atwaters 35-year-old granddaughter. Kevin Washington, C. 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. She had already been friends with the girls when their parents met and connected. In 1971 Atwater was asked to co-chair a group looking for answers for the problems of desegregation of Durham Schools. Ellis and Atwater spoke together about their experience at events around the country, and at C.P. But the job didnt last, and Atwater went to the Department of Social Services to apply for help. Ann Atwater, a black civil rights activist, talks about her friend. 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. Born Ann George in the community of Hallsboro in Columbus County, North Carolina, she was pregnant and married at the age of 14. I didn't like them. 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. 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. She was a member of several community groups and local Democratic Party vice president in 1968. [8][pageneeded]. To manage the transition to racial integration, councilman Bill Riddick called a charrette. 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. I didnt like the demonstrations downtown, recalled Ellis some 30 years after the charrette. All I had was God holding my back and that's it. "The couple were married a week later.. It was during this series of meetings in the summer of 1971 that C.P. 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. He still got my back and He always will have it as long as I keep trusting in him." "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.. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. 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. The enmity was mutual, and the charrette seemed stuck. I almost killed C.P. Dig deeper into The Best of Enemies true story by watching the Ann Atwater interview and documentary below. 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. After Michael Peterson and Patricia Sue divorced in 1985, Clayton and his younger brother Todd went to live with their mother. "I just lend whatever God gives me to give out. The funeral homes were still segregated, said Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, director of the School for Conversion, a community program in Durham. Ignoring her and the parents with her was a mistake. He worked multiple jobs to support his family, but like Atwater, he barely found the funds to make ends meet. -An Unlikely Friendship Documentary. When Ellis, who later became a labor rights activist, died in 2005, his family asked Atwater to give the eulogy. So I began to admire the Klan. However, Yes, this comes straight from Diane Bloom's 2002 documentary, No. Today, Todd is believed to be living in Tennessee. Michael and Kathleen Peterson raised a large, blended family with children from previous relationships. Poverty was still a problem in the segregated society; in 1950 28% of families lived below the designated poverty line of $3000. At this point, the couple had another daughter, Marilyn. 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. Fuller was bankrolled by the North Caroline Fund to do some community organizing and soon drafted Atwater into the group. He grabbed my hand and said, Dont give them the satisfaction. . Atwater went to work as a maid, making 30 cents an hour. 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. 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. Margaret Ratliff and her young sister Martha Ratliff were adopted by Michael Peterson after their parents, Elizabeth and George Ratliff, died. Yes. 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. Her goal was to teach the people the necessary skills to survive. The experience inspired her to become involved in housing advocacy herself. 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. 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. 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. She was a woman who found and used the power of her voice. 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.
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