Theirs is a profoundly American story—a story of racial hatred, and redemption, in the American South. It’s a story of an unlikely friendship between black and white, an unbelievable relationship that formed at the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s 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.