They raised him until approximately age 11, when he was placed in an institution. He was blind, deaf, and suffered from an intellectual disability. Ellis and his wife Mary had a son who they called Punkin'. Ellis have a son with an intellectual disability? It's true that C.P.'s wife, Mary Ellis (portrayed by Anne Heche), didn't support her husband's involvement in the Klan.ĭid C.P. He was paired with Ann Atwater in 1971 when they were both picked to co-chair the committee on school desegregation. Ellis eventually took on leadership roles in the KKK and was voted into the position of "Grand Cyclops" of the Durham, NC, chapter. The real Ellis started a youth group designed to indoctrinate young people. The movie fictionalizes this to blacks, Jews, and Communists, not Catholics. In the documentary, he states that the organization's teachings positioned "blacks, Jews, and Catholics" as the enemy. These bigoted beliefs are what led Ellis to become a member of the local Ku Klux Klan. One Sunday, they won the football game, and I remember very clearly, saying, "You n**gers get back across the railroad track." When later asked when it was that he joined the Klan, he would respond by saying it was when he was in that football field and called that little boy what he did. We'd come from the other side, and we'd meet there with 'em. "On Sunday afternoon, the little black kids would come across the railroad track and meet down there in the field. "The first time I ever used that N-word was in a little old football field down on the eastern section of Durham, right beside the railroad track," recalled C.P. 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. 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. 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |