Ann Atwater’s amazing rise from advocate for the poor to ‘Best of Enemies’ stardom

Ann Atwater in an image from the 2002 documentary “An Unlikely Friendship.” By DeNeen L. Brown DeNeen L. Brown Local enterprise reporter Email Bio Follow April 5 at 12:57 PM 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.

“City council people, would, they was in those chairs you know they wheel around, and they would turn their backs to us and didn’t wanna hear us," Atwater said in the 2010 interview with Duke University historian Robert Korstad."And we had to go up and knock them back around so that would let them know that we are human and we’ll talk to them.”

Her first baby died soon after birth. Two years later, she had another baby, whom she named Lydia, Davidson wrote. She moved to Durham in 1953. Atwater went to work as a maid, making 30 cents an hour. But the job didn’t last, and Atwater went to the Department of Social Services to apply for help. Atwater quickly rose to become a formidable spokeswoman for the poor in Durham. She was one of those legendary black women in the South who was simply fearless when facing white oppression. She became an activist with Operation Breakthrough and would later work with the United Organizations for Community improvement.

“I almost killed C.P. Ellis a couple of years before we worked together to integrate Durham’s schools,” Atwater wrote in a 2013 column in the Durham Herald-Sun titled “What Forgiveness Costs.”

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‘Best of Enemies’ tells true story of friendship between civil rights activist and former KKK leader'Best of Enemies' tells the true story of friendship between a civil rights activist and a former KKK leader in North Carolina. Watch Taraji P. Henson talk to NBCNightlyNews about working on the upcoming film. NBCNightlyNews 99999 999999 99 999999999999999999999999999999999 9999 999 99 9 9 9 999 9 99 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9b9b NBCNightlyNews That's also the name of a similarly titled and themed book about Israel and Palestine that came out in the 1990s. It was written by a former PLO member and Mossad agent who became friends: I quite liked it as a college student. NBCNightlyNews Hey Hollywood, Stop with the white male racist redemption stories.
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‘Best of Enemies’ tells true story of friendship between civil rights activist and former KKK leader'Best of Enemies' tells the true story of friendship between a civil rights activist and a former KKK leader in North Carolina. Watch Taraji P. Henson talk to NBCNightlyNews about working on the upcoming film. NBCNightlyNews 99999 999999 99 999999999999999999999999999999999 9999 999 99 9 9 9 999 9 99 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9b9b NBCNightlyNews That's also the name of a similarly titled and themed book about Israel and Palestine that came out in the 1990s. It was written by a former PLO member and Mossad agent who became friends: I quite liked it as a college student. NBCNightlyNews Hey Hollywood, Stop with the white male racist redemption stories.
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