

Racism was instilled in Ellis from a young age. He grew up in the tobacco and textile town of Durham, North Carolina. Like Ann Atwater, Claiborne Paul Ellis was raised in a life of poverty. Henson (right) portrays Atwater in The Best of Enemies movie. The real Ann Atwater (left) talks on the phone in 1971 while working on the school desegregation issue. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. 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.

Ellis was the son of a millworker and was raised in poverty. In researching The Best of Enemies' historical accuracy, we learned that C.P. She also became the first female deacon in her church. Her notoriety as a civil rights activist led to her being elected as the vice president of her local Democratic Party. Atwater's work focused on resolving the differences in how community aid organizations treated whites and blacks.Ītwater served on various committees and commissions that dealt with inequality, mainly those that were centered around housing and poverty. The organization was committed to battling economic and racial inequality and poverty. Howard Fuller, who taught her the ins and outs of community organizing. She joined Operation Breakthrough in the mid-1960s at the urging of activist Dr. 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. 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.
