Ann Atwater

Ann was brought up in the South during the 1950’s in a poor family. After she became pregnant as a teen, her father pushed her into an unwanted marriage. In her early twenties she found herself living in Durham as a single mother of three girls. Ann works as a domestic for white people but is barely able to provide the base necessities for her own family. Although uneducated, she is hyper conscious of the oppression she faces as a black woman and she is often filled with rage. Her rage eventually finds an outlet when she learns to fight for her rights through community organizing. Ann finds her life’s purpose in organizing other poor blacks in Durham around housing issues and soon is both feared and respected in City Hall. Often frustrated by the political barriers she faces due to institutional racism, Ann’s radicalism...