By Henry Bryant
This 2019 release is now available on Netflix. It tells a story similar to ones that happened locally, The Best of Enemies tells the story of the racial desegregation tale of 1971 Durham North Carolina. The movie stars Taraji P. Henson as Civil Rights activist Ann Atwater and Sam Rockwell as Carolina Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis in this ripped from history tale of people who are forced to come to terms with each other. There was no love lost between them. Their beliefs set them at odds, but they became lifelong friends in real life. The story line was chronicled in the 1996 book by Osha Gray Davidson.
Over my years in East Atlanta, I have participated in many charettes, mostly for the planning of features in our community. This movie features a charette that is titled The Summit on Desegregation of Durham Schools. The inequality and injustice issue was typical of that time period and was brought to a head by a fire at the substandard all-black elementary school. Before that the school board had refused to integrate the schools, and did not have the money to rebuild the black school. The Durham City Council contacted an NAACP leader, played by Babou Ceesay, who had gained some notoriety for bringing resolution to conflicting positions by bringing both sides to the table to hear each other out. Having graduated from high school in the South in 1969 this could have been about my school. Watching it, I could easily identify the characters and the conflict, but was surprised to see the old East Atlanta High School on Mary Dell Avenue off of Bouldercrest and Fayetteville Road pop up to play the part of the Summit location. It had starred in its own drama at about the same time. It also played the role of a workplace for the characters in the acclaimed movie, Numbers, another inspiring story about racial inequity. As a white person who supported the black people of that day, I can safely cheer them on from the comfort of my living room today. As a white person who sees racial injustice in our own time rearing its ugly head, these movies motivate me to take action now to stop any backsliding. The past was not always a pretty place. I enjoyed revisiting the times in this story since integration carried the vote in Durham.
Unlike other reviewers of the movie, I could cheer for Ann Atwater and her followers. She was the hero of the movie who made the gesture that broke the stalemate, and Babou Ceesay played the movie’s other hero who brought both sides to the table for peaceful debate. I hope those parts of the movie were faithful to history.
