Democracy Now! September 17, 2001

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Program Title:
Democracy Now! September 17, 2001
Series Title:
PRA Archive #: 
PZ0388.251
Description: 

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ORATION ON JULY 4TH : BEST OF ENEMIES: THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN A FORMER KLANSMAN AND AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST [Replay of DN! July 4, 2000]

Rerun of: FREDERICK DOUGLASS ORATION ON JULY 4TH Today is a national holiday, commemorating the Fourth of July, when American colonies declared their independence from England in 1776. While many in America hang flags, attend parades and watch fireworks, Independence Day is not a cause of celebration for all. For Native Americans, it is a bitter reminder of colonialism, which brought disease, violence, genocide and the destruction of their culture and way of life. For African Americans, Independence Day did not extend to them. While white colonists were declaring their freedom from the Crown, that liberation was not shared with millions of Africans captured, beaten and separated from their families and forced into brutal slavery thousands of miles from home. On this special holiday broadcast, we'll hear the story of an amazing friendship between an Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan and a black civil rights activist - a story that offers hope for healing in a racially divided nation. But first we go back 147 years, to one of the most powerful voices of the abolition movement: Frederick Douglass, born a slave in Maryland in 1818. As a young boy, Douglass was taught how to read by slaveholder Sophia Auld. It was a dangerous and radical act that changed his destiny. Douglass escaped from slavery in the 1830's and became a leader in the growing campaign against slavery through lectures and his anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star. On July 4, 1852, Douglass delivered one of his most powerful speeches against slavery in Rochester, NY. Here is a dramatic reading of the Fourth of July Oration by Frederick Douglass. Tape: Fourth Of July Oration - from 1852 in Rochester, New York, by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Read by Bernard White, of Pacifica station WBAI in New York. Story: BEST OF ENEMIES: THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN A FORMER KLANSMAN AND AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST Theirs is a profoundly American story, a story of racial hatred and redemption in the American South. It is the story of an unlikely friendship between black and white, an unbelievable relationship that formed at the height of the civil rights movement and continues to this day. He was the Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan in Durham, North Carolina. She was the leader of the United Organizations for Community Improvement, a militant black protest group. White racist C.P. Ellis and African American activist Ann Atwater met during the battle over school desegregation, and they have been friends and allies ever since. Journalist Osha Gray Davidson tells their powerful story in his book The Best of Enemies: The Story of Race and Redemption. Guests: Ann Atwater, Civil rights leader who used to head the United Organizations for Community Improvement. Speaking from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. C.P. Ellis, former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan in Durham, North Carolina. Speaking from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Osha Gray Davidson, journalist and author of the book The Best of Enemies: The Story of Race and Redemption, published by Scribner Books. Speaking from Iowa City, Iowa. Note: Same program also: PZ0388.198 (July 4, 2000); PZ0342.195 (July 5, 1999); and PZ0287.099 (July 4, 1996)

Date Recorded on: 
September 17, 2001
Date Broadcast on: 
September 17, 2001
Item duration: 
59 min.
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Distributor: 
WPFW; September 17, 2001
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