History isn't usually a neat line. It’s messy. Sometimes, it’s downright explosive. In 1971, Durham, North Carolina, was a pressure cooker of racial tension, and at the center of it all was an unlikely, almost unbelievable encounter. This was the moment of white right meeting the enemy, though the "enemy" in this case depends entirely on whose side of the fence you were sitting on at the time.
C.P. Ellis was the Exalted Cyclops of the Durham branch of the Ku Klux Klan. He wasn't just a member; he was a true believer, a man who thought his survival depended on the separation of the races. On the other side stood Ann Atwater, a powerhouse Black civil rights activist known for her fierce advocacy and a literal "don't mess with me" attitude.
They hated each other.
Honestly, it wasn't just a political disagreement. It was visceral. Atwater once famously said she had a knife in her purse and was ready to use it if Ellis got too close. This wasn't a scripted TV drama. This was real life in the American South, where the stakes were schools, livelihoods, and dignity.
Why the Durham Charrette Changed Everything
The city was forced to deal with school desegregation, a mandate that most people in power were dragging their feet on. Enter Bill Riddick. He was an organizer who specialized in "charrettes"—intensive, multi-day brainstorming sessions designed to solve community problems. Riddick had the wild, perhaps slightly crazy idea to appoint C.P. Ellis and Ann Atwater as co-chairs of the committee.
It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
Initially, it was. For the first few days of white right meeting the enemy, the atmosphere was toxic. Ellis showed up with KKK literature. Atwater showed up with a glare that could melt steel. They sat at opposite ends of the table, refusing to look at each other, fueled by decades of systemic distrust and personal animosity.
But here is where the story gets nuanced.
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As they talked—or rather, as they were forced to listen to the grievances of the community—something shifted. They realized they were both being screwed over by the same system. Ellis was a poor white man who had been told his whole life that Black people were the reason for his poverty. Atwater was a Black woman living the reality of that poverty.
They both wanted better schools for their kids. They both wanted their voices heard by a city council that ignored them. They were both pawns in a larger game played by the wealthy elite of Durham.
The Breaking Point and the Gospel Music
There’s a specific moment people always point to when discussing white right meeting the enemy in Durham. One night during the charrette, some of the Black gospel singers began to perform. Ellis, surprisingly, started tapping his foot. He liked the music.
It’s a small thing, right? A foot tap. But in a room defined by hatred, it was a crack in the armor.
Atwater noticed. She reached out, not with a handshake at first, but with a shared understanding of the struggle. They started talking about their children. They looked at pictures. They realized that the "enemy" they had been taught to hate was actually just another person struggling to pay the rent and keep their kids safe.
By the end of the ten days, the unthinkable happened. C.P. Ellis stood up in front of the assembly, took his KKK membership card, and tore it into pieces.
He didn't just quit. He flipped his entire worldview.
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This wasn't some magical, "everyone lived happily ever after" moment. Ellis was ostracized by his former friends. He received death threats. He lost his community. But he gained a lifelong friend in Ann Atwater. They remained close until he passed away in 2005.
Understanding the Mechanics of the Encounter
When we talk about white right meeting the enemy, we have to look at the psychological concept of "contact theory." This isn't just academic fluff; it's the idea that under specific conditions—equal status, common goals, and institutional support—intergroup contact can reduce prejudice.
The Durham charrette provided those conditions:
- Equal Status: Both were co-chairs. Neither had more power than the other in that room.
- Common Goals: The schools had to be integrated. It was a federal mandate. They had to make it work.
- Deep Interaction: This wasn't a one-hour meeting. This was ten days of ten-hour sessions. You can't maintain a facade of pure hatred for that long when you're forced to solve logistical problems together.
Critics of this story sometimes argue that it oversimplifies the nature of systemic racism. They aren't wrong. One KKK member changing his mind doesn't dismantle the structures of oppression. However, as an example of individual transformation and the power of radical empathy, it remains one of the most cited cases in American history.
The Fallout and the Reality of Change
Change is ugly.
C.P. Ellis didn't just become a "liberal." He became a labor organizer. He spent the rest of his life fighting for the rights of workers—Black and white. He realized that the racial divide was a tool used by management to prevent unions from forming.
This is a crucial detail that often gets left out of the Hollywood versions of the story (like the movie The Best of Enemies). It wasn't just about "liking" each other. It was about realizing a shared class interest.
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The concept of white right meeting the enemy shifted from a racial conflict to a class-based alliance.
Ann Atwater never stopped being a firebrand. She didn't "soften" her stance on civil rights just because she became friends with a former Klansman. If anything, she saw it as a victory—she had successfully converted one of the most influential racists in the city.
What This Teaches Us About Modern Polarization
We live in a time of extreme silos. We don't talk to the "enemy" anymore; we just tweet at them.
The Durham story is a reminder that transformation requires proximity. You can't change someone's mind from a distance. You have to be in the room. You have to be willing to sit through the discomfort, the anger, and the KKK literature to get to the point where you can talk about your kids.
It also highlights the importance of shared pain. Poverty is a powerful unifier if people are allowed to see it. In 1971, the economic struggles of poor whites and poor Blacks in Durham were nearly identical, yet they were kept at each other's throats to ensure the status quo remained.
Practical Insights for High-Conflict Mediation
If you’re looking at the white right meeting the enemy dynamic in your own life—whether it’s a family feud, a corporate conflict, or community organizing—the Durham charrette offers a blueprint.
- Identify the Shared Vulnerability. Don't start with politics. Start with what keeps both sides up at night. Is it the local economy? School safety? The price of groceries? Find the human element that exists beneath the ideology.
- Force the Proximity. Change doesn't happen in a one-off meeting. It happens over days and weeks of sustained interaction. If you want to bridge a gap, you have to commit to the long haul.
- Acknowledge the Cost. Understand that for someone to leave an extremist group or change a deeply held belief, they are going to lose their social circle. You have to be prepared to offer a new community in its place.
- Listen for the "Foot Tap." Look for the small signs of humanity. Maybe it's a shared taste in music, a similar sense of humor, or a common hobby. These are the entry points for larger conversations.
History shows us that the "enemy" is often a reflection of our own fears and the stories we've been told. C.P. Ellis and Ann Atwater proved that those stories can be rewritten, but only if you're brave enough to sit at the same table.
Next Steps for Implementation:
- Audit your "enemies" list: Identify one person or group whose views you find abhorrent. Instead of engaging in a debate, research their economic or social stressors to find potential areas of shared concern.
- Create "neutral zones" for dialogue: If organizing a community meeting, use the charrette model of multi-day, goal-oriented sessions rather than a single town hall which often devolves into performative shouting.
- Read the primary accounts: For a deeper look at the psychological shifts, read The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson, which provides the meticulously researched facts behind the legends.
- Support local labor and community boards: These are the modern-day "tables" where people of different backgrounds are forced to work together on practical problems like zoning, school budgets, and workers' rights.