FACT SHEET
TITLE:AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
LENGTH:1/30
NOLA CODE:AUFS 000 K1
CATEGORY:Documentary
OFFERED:May 2004 Teleconference
CONTRACT TERM: October 1, 2004 - September 30, 2008
BROADCAST RIGHTS: 6 Releases/4 Years
LICENSEES: American Public Television Exchange
DELIVERY DATE: August 1, 2004
PROGRAM SUPPLIER:UNC-TV via APT
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:This fall, UNC-TV and American Public Television present the half-hour documentary, AnUnlikely Friendship. This acclaimed and penetrating program by filmmaker Diane Bloom captures the heartwarming story of how civil rights activist Ann Atwater and former Ku Klux Klansman C.P. Ellis transcended stereotypes and years of animosity to form a strong and loving relationship that has withstood the test of time.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS:A press release, photos and biographies are included. All materials, including photography, are available at
PRODUCTION CREDITS: Director and Producer: Diane Bloom
Interviewer: Florence Soltys
Associate Producers: Davis Stillson,
Stephen Hawthorne, Jim Sander
Edited by:Davis Stillson and David Kasper
Narrator: Lou Lipsitz
Camera: David Kasper
Second Camera: Jim Sander
Research Director: Jim Sander
SCHEDULING SUGGESTIONS:October is Diversity Awareness Month;
February is Black History Month.
VIEWER INQUIRIES:Diane Bloom
(919) 929-8941
COMMUNICATIONS CONTACTS:Jen Jones
UNC-TV
(919) 549-7169
Dawn Anderson
American Public Television
(617) 338-4455, ext. 149
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2004
CONTACT: Jen Jones, (919) 549-7169,
[Please visit for more information, photos, and logos.]
AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP:
Premieres on American Public Television Stations Fall 2004
In 1970, the leaders of Durham, North Carolina’s black and white communities were losing control of the racial issues plaguing their city—an area known nationally, and perhaps erroneously, as a model of race relations. At the height of this racially tense period, a surprising bond emerged between an embittered Ku Klux Klan leader and an outspoken African-American leader.
This fall, UNC-TV and American Public Television present the half-hour documentary, AnUnlikely Friendship. This acclaimed and penetrating program by filmmaker Diane Bloom captures the heartwarming story of how civil rights activist Ann Atwater and former Klansman C.P. Ellis transcended stereotypes and years of animosity to form a strong and loving relationship that has withstood the test of time.
"It has always seemed to me that authentic and lasting change in people is difficult and rare,” says Bloom. “I was first drawn to tell the story of the altogether unexpected friendship which developed between C.P. Ellis, the exalted grand Cyclops of the KKK, and Ann Atwater, a black civil rights activist, because I was intrigued by their transformation.”
Told in their own words, Atwater and Ellis recall the values that led them down their divisive paths, their feelings the first time they met at a not-so-civil Durham City Council meeting and their memories of leadership and friendship that would send a message of tolerance and hope to their community for decades.
This rich and compelling story is at once both light-hearted and poignant. “I am very excited that it will air on APT, and hope that the viewers throughout the nation will find Ann and C.P.’s story as inspiring as I have,” says Bloom. “In a time where we can all see the devastating effects of hatred in the world today, this story if extremely hopeful. If two polar opposites as the exalted grand Cyclops of the KKK and a black vocal civil rights activist can form a lifelong friendship, then anyone can!”
UNC-TV is North Carolina’s member supported, 11-station statewide television network committed to using telecommunications wisely and imaginatively to inform, educate, and enrich.
For 42 years, American Public Television (APT) has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations. APT has more than 10,000 hours of available programming including Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter, Globe Trekker, Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World, Nightly Business Report, Rick Steves’ Europe, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Ballykissangel, Brian Jacques’ Redwall and Sinatra: The Classic Duets. APT is known for identifying innovative programs and developing creative distribution techniques for producers. In more than four decades, it has established a tradition of providing public television stations nationwide with program choices that enable them to strengthen and customize their schedules. Press should contact Donna Hardwick at 617-338-4455 ext. 129 or via email to . For more information about APT's programs and services, log on to aptonline.org.
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PROGRAM BIOGRAPHIES—An Unlikely Friendship
Biographies of An Unlikely Friendship’s Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis
Ann Atwater
Born: July 1, 1935
Ann Atwater has been a volunteer and community activist in Durham, North Carolina for more than 40 years. She has spent much of her life fighting to empower the impoverished by giving them a voice and educating them about their rights.
Growing up as the youngest of nine children, Atwater began working on the family farm in Columbus County, NC, before she can even remember. She credits her parents for teaching her the value of hard work, which she says has been the foundation for her success as a community activist.
Atwater married at 14 and soon after moved with her husband to Durham, N.C. While living in Durham, community leaders quickly discovered Ann’s leadership capacity and she was trained as a Community Action Technician with the North Carolina Fund, a program operating under a grant to eradicate poverty. Her role as an activist led her into Durham neighborhoods, walking door-to-door, motivating community members to speak out.
Atwater says that helping people gives her life meaning. And even today, people still seek Ann Atwater's assistance—her phone ringing on a daily basis with community questions and requests.
Atwater is also a deacon of her church, a winner of the Rosa Parks Award, the Keep the Dream Alive Martin Luther King Award, the NAACP Woman of Distinction award and Drum Major for Justice award. She is the mother of two daughters and a grandmother of two.
Atwater encourages young people to follow her dad's advice: "Make sure that what you stand on is right" and "understand the importance of knowing the truth."
C.P. Ellis
Born: January 8, 1927
Claiborne Paul "C.P." Ellis was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. His father worked hard in a textile mill but had to struggle his entire adult life to try to earn enough money to feed his family. Growing up poor and in a segregated society—a region divided by race and class—C.P. Ellis discovered the lessons of exclusion early.
As a young adult burdened by the weight of family responsibilities and business ownership, Ellis felt powerless. Membership in the Ku Klux Klan appealed to Ellis, promising a sense of belonging, recognition and esteem. He quickly climbed the ranks to assume the role of president of the local KKK chapter and became a well-known voice in this North Carolina community.
In 1971, Ellis co-chaired a 10-day community meeting with his arch rival, civil rights activist Ann Atwater. During this meeting, he came to know Atwater and respect her as a person. On the last night of the meeting he tore up his Klan membership papers, renouncing the organization.
Following this pivotal event in his life, Ellis spent 20 years as a union organizer, fighting for the dignity and rights of black and white workers. The former Klansman would take calls in the middle of the night and drive for hours to promote safe and reasonable conditions for workers. Today, C.P. Ellis lives in a convalescence home, suffering from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. His three sons, daughter and friends remember him as an honorable man with a big heart who is "living proof that change is possible."
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHY—An Unlikely Friendship
Diane Bloom, Producer, Writer, and Director of An Unlikely Friendship
Diane Bloom is an independent filmmaker from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has a Ph.D. in Human Development, a Masters of Public Health, and is nationally recognized as a qualitative researcher and focus group leader.
Diane has always had a strong interest in issues of social and human justice, and is an activist in her community. Growing up in a small, all-white beach town in New Jersey, the only African-American people she saw as a child were the maids who came into town to take care of the children and the houses of the white families. From her childhood experiences, she recalls how subtle and not-so-subtle prejudices were passed down from one generation to the next.
Two years ago, Diane first heard about the story of the surprising friendship that developed between C.P. Ellis, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, and Ann Atwater, a poor welfare mother and community activist. The pair co-chaired a ten-day long school desegregation meeting in 1971 to find ways to peacefully integrate the Durham, NC schools. During that intense time, Atwater and Ellis came to know each other as humans instead of as stereotypes. At the end of the ten-day meeting, in front of 1,000 people from the community, C.P. Ellis tore up his KKK membership card, renouncing the Klan. He paid a heavy price for this, since he became an outcast among the people who had been his friends. Thirty years later, those KKK members have still not forgiven him.
Diane found Ellis's transformation almost unbelievable, and wanted to find out how such a change could come about. After talking to C.P. and Ann, she found that their story resonated with her—weaving together several important threads in her life: human justice, racial equality and transformation. She found it imperative to give the former Klansman and the civil rights activist the opportunity to tell their own story in their own words while they were still healthy enough to do so.
In addition to An Unlikely Friendship, Diane has directed and produced several other films including Squirrel Wars. Diane also hosted a community radio talk show called Our Town as well as a Cable TV talk show called Who Cares?.