Fighting a Movie with Lightning : „The Birth of a Nation“ and the Black Community

Laufs, Stefanie

Fighting a Movie with Lightning : „The Birth of a Nation“ and the Black Community

by Stefanie Laufs (Author)

History - America

53115

Summary

Despite their efforts, black activists throughout the early 20th century were not able to achieve full equality and fair treatment in society. However, they gained a new way of thinking that resulted in the formation of the ‘New Negro’. This term, in essence, designates a new way of thinking in the black community. Its members were neither satisfied with, nor accepted their inferior position in society and were willing to fight for their rights. Phenomena that paradoxically had a positive impact on the black community as a whole, and especially on the New Negro, were the actions undertaken by African Americans all over the United States in response to D.W. Griffith’s racist 1915 silent movie The Birth of a Nation.
It is the aim of this paper to prove that these activities undertaken by African Americans and their supporters in the early 20th century against The Birth of a Nation influenced and shaped the black community as a whole, but especially the notion of the New Negro, both politically and culturally.

Excerpt

List of Figures

Figure 1 African Americans in Southern States, 1870-1890 ... 75

Figure 2 Lynching ... 75

Figure 3 Number of White and Colored Persons Lynched in United States, 1889-1918 ... 76

Figure 4 Lynchings of Last Ten Years 1909-1918 ... 76

Figure 5 Display Ad The Birth of a Nation ... 76

Figure 6 Advertisement The Birth of a Nation Oregon ... 78

Figure 7 1,000 People Turned Away At First Matinee of "The Birth of a Nation" ... 78

Figure 8 Ad The Birth of a Nation Portland ... 80

Figure 9 Race for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States: 1890 (Total Population)

... 80

Figure 10 Race for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States: 1900 ... 82

Figure 11 Race for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States: 1910 ... 83

Figure 12 Race for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States: 1920 ... 84

Figure 13 Organizing in the US against The Clansman and The Birth of a Nation ... 85

Figure 14 Protest at Boston Common 1915 ... 85

Figure 15 Mammy Caricature ... 86

Figure 16 Mammy in The Birth of a Nation ... 86

Figure 17 Depiction of a Pickaninny ... 87

1. Introduction

The history of the suppression of blacks on the North American continent dates back

to their arrival in large numbers in the early 1600s, when the first African slaves crossed the

middle passage from Africa to North America and the Caribbean, one of the many sea routes

that constituted the transatlantic slave trade. It wasn't until two and a half centuries later, in

1865, that this practice of oppression was finally outlawed with the passage of the thirteenth

amendment of the US constitution.

Three years later, in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment

granted citizenship to "[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States"

, including

former and now-freed slaves. However, these laws could not bring physical or verbal discrim-

ination against African Americans to a halt.

One of the reasons for this continuation of hatred against blacks lay in the widespread

conviction that whites were superior to colored people. Proponents of this belief, like Madi-

son Grant who wrote the racist book The Passing of the Great Race in 1916, justified their

insistence on white superiority and racial separation by claiming that blacks would become a

danger to whites and themselves if they were treated on equal terms.

As a result of this

widely shared attitude, blacks were considered to have an inferior status and were treated

accordingly. A large number of people of African descent throughout the United States,

however, were not willing to accept this imposed position in society and longed for equal

rights. It was especially during the early 20

century that African Americans would manage

to get one small step closer to achieving these rights.

During this time the conscience of the black population changed. They were not will-

ing to accept their second-class status any longer, and wanted to gain equality. This new

attitude that they espoused during the early 1900s allowed many African Americans to fight

against the discrimination they had to face on a large scale. The catalyst for the resulting

actions by blacks will be analyzed in the second part of this paper. With their newfound

awareness, which was marked by a sense of self-worth and racial pride, many black activists,

like W. E. B. Du Bois, started to fight "the problem of the color-line"

, and also sought to

find a solution to "the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men"

, which implied the

black person's equal inclusion in society. Soon, Du Bois and other black leaders found

supporters for their theories which they wanted to apply to the real world.

"The Charters of Freedom: Constitution of the United States Amendments: 11-27," National Archives

<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html#13>. 7.9.2011.

Ibid.

Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race: or The Racial Basis of European History (New York: Charles

Scribner's Sons, 1916) 84.

W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Dover, 1994) 9.

Du Bois, Souls, 9.

Despite their efforts, black activists throughout the early 20

century were not able to

achieve full equality and fair treatment in society. However, they gained a new way of

thinking that resulted in the formation of the `New Negro'. This term, in essence, designates a

new way of thinking in the black community. Its members were neither satisfied with, nor

accepted their inferior position in society and were willing to fight for their rights. Phenomena

that paradoxically had a positive impact on the black community as a whole, and especially

on the New Negro, were the actions undertaken by African Americans all over the United

States in response to D.W. Griffith's racist 1915 silent movie The Birth of a Nation.

Silent movies prior to The Birth of a Nation were not considered to be of cultural val-

ue. One of the movie's financiers, Roy Aitken, claimed that "the only enthusiasts for the new

form of entertainment were working men and their families who patronized the poorly

ventilated nickelodeons or the equally musty second-rate theatres."

In addition, Joseph

Henabery who played President Abraham Lincoln in the movie, "found it hard to believe that

the movies could really be considered entertainment."

Reading these comments, the recogni-

tion of movies as an art form, or their being considered an educational or entertaining device

for all social classes, seemed quite impossible during the early 20

century. The Birth of a

Nation, however, managed to break free of this negative reputation.

Newspaper commentaries amply demonstrate this change in attitude regarding silent

movies at this time. For example, the editor of The Atlanta Constitution, Lindsey Hopkins,

stated that she had seen the film eight times and would not have minded seeing it again, since

"[i]t is history, filled with exact truth, and is artistic to a degree that no one would have

thought possible."

These responses to the movie can be seen in newspapers throughout the

United States at the time and thus confirm that The Birth of a Nation represented a milestone

in film history.

In spite of the many new features it offered to the film world, the movie portrayed the

African Americans in such a bad light that the black community felt the film "was not only an

insult to the colored race but was an incentive to race hatred and to lawlessness."

African Americans did not accept these clichéd depictions of their community and soon began

to plan several activities, aimed at suppressing the movie nationwide, which significantly

impacted the black community. It is the aim of this paper to prove that these activities

undertaken by African Americans and their supporters in the early 20

century against The

Roy E. Aitken and Al P. Nelson, The Birth of a Nation Story (Middleburg, Va.: Denlinger, 1965) 32.

Cf. Kevin Brownlow, The Parade's Gone By ... (New York: Knopf, 1968) 43.

Lindsey Hopkins, "Indorses "Birth of a Nation."," The Atlanta Constitution (18 October 1915) 4.

""Birth of a Nation" causes Near-Riot: Alleged Plot to Destroy Film Results in Scenes and 11 Arrests," Boston

Daily Globe (18 April 1915) 1.

Birth of a Nation influenced and shaped the black community as a whole, but especially the

notion of the New Negro, both politically and culturally.

This topic is of importance to the discipline of American studies for a number of rea-

sons. In 1988, John O'Connor claimed that scholars should "appreciate both history in images

and images in history"

; he asked historians not to dismiss movies as a mere form of enter-

tainment but to consider them as a device worthy of scholarly analysis, since they are capable

of revealing new, historical information. This paper agrees with O'Connor's argument. By

examining The Birth of a Nation, and the cultural milieu it was engendered in, we gain an

insight into racism during this period, and the cultural and political transformation of African

Americans is revealed.

In addition to this insight, this paper allows a shift in focus from the popular art and

propaganda debates regarding The Birth of a Nation to look solely at the influence the movie

had on the black community. Up until now, many scholars, like John Hope Franklin, correctly

claimed that the movie and its artistic possibilities were used with propagandistic intention to

encourage sympathy for the southern people, and for the notions of white supremacy and

black inferiority.

Frequently, however, the role of the African American protestors was

either left out completely, or was insufficiently addressed.

Evidently, some scholars have summarized the protests. Melvyn Stokes, for example,

portrays the activities undertaken by the movie's opponents in the United States in his

D.W.Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Others, like Paul Polgar in his article Fighting Lightning

with Fire: Black Boston's Battle against "The Birth of a Nation", have focused on protests in

one particular place. These scholars, however, have not linked these actions undertaken by the

black community to the concept of the New Negro, nor to the extent to which these actions

reflect, and influenced, this new attitude among African Americans. By considering these

protests from a different angle, valuable insights into the historical and cultural spheres of the

United States can be gained.

In order to support this paper's thesis, the theories of African American thinkers who

reflect the New Negro attitude, such as Alain Locke and W. E. B. Du Bois, will be discussed.

Following this, the extent to which their aims and characteristics were more widely accepted

and adopted by the black community, with the help of the activities undertaken against The

Birth of a Nation, will be analyzed. In particular, newspaper articles of from time are useful in

understanding the influence the movie had on the New Negro.

Cf. John E. O'Connor, "History in Images/Images in History: Reflections on the Importance of Film and

Television Study for an Understanding of the Past," The American Historical Review 93:5 (1988) 1209.

Cf. John Hope Franklin,""Birth of a Nation": Propaganda as History," The Massachusetts Review 20:3 (1979)

41734.

The paper will be split into three parts. Before addressing the black community's ac-

tions against the movie, the overall situation of African Americans during the early 1900s will

be briefly discussed in the first chapter of this paper. Throughout this discussion the legal,

violent and cultural forms of racism they were exposed to will become apparent. This infor-

mation will provide the reader with an idea of the social environment African Americans were

faced with, and which influenced the creation of the New Negro. Additionally, in this part of

the paper, the movie The Birth of a Nation will be shortly summarized, whilst information

about its director D.W.Griffith, Thomas Dixon Jr., the author of the book The Clansman the

movie is based on and the movie's negative portrayal of African Americans, will be provided.

The second chapter will firstly define the term `New Negro', before briefly comparing

it to the concept of the `Old Negro'. Moreover, the catalyst for the creation of the new

consciousness will be discussed. However, the second chapter will mostly concentrate on the

film's political influence on the black community in the USA, as well as on the extent to

which this reflects and affected the New Negro's political behavior. Following this, the

increase in the unification and organization of African Americans will be analyzed. Black

organizations, such as the National Organizations for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP), female organizations, and mass meetings will be discussed. In addition, militant

actions undertaken by the black community will be examined. The major focus will be on

addressing censors and local authorities.

The final part of this thesis will concentrate on the cultural influence The Birth of a

Nation had on the black community, especially on the black film industry. The activity of

fighting the film using its own medium, by creating a movie that contradicts Griffith's

stereotypes of the African American, helped to portray the black community in a new light.

The first attempts of fighting film with film, with the movies Lincoln's Dream and The Birth

of a Race, will be discussed. In addition, Oscar Micheaux's Within Our Gates will be more

closely examined, proving that, through the inspiration provided by The Birth of a Nation,

Micheaux challenged old stereotypes of African Americans and replaced these with the idea

of the New Negro.

Primary sources used to complete this work include newspaper articles from around

the United States, as well as the African American newspaper The Crisis, works of repre-

sentatives of the New Negro, like W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, the movie The Birth of

a Nation, Dixon's novels The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots, sources presenting the

history of the African American in the United States, information on the movie provided by

the Aitken brothers, and interviews and statistics.

Secondary sources used consist of books and journal entries dealing with The Birth of

a Nation as a film, and the individuals involved in its production, such as D.W. Griffith and

Thomas Dixon, various African American organizations, the New Negro and the Ku Klux

Klan.

2. The Nadir

"[T]he Veil [between white and colored people].

It drops as drops the night on southern seas 

vast, sudden, unanswering.

There is Hate behind it,

and Cruelty and Tears."

W. E. B. Du Bois

In order to understand the main reasons for the outrage inspired by, and resulting pro-

tests against, The Birth of a Nation, it is indispensable not only to focus on the actions

directed against the movie itself, but also to examine the social environment African Ameri-

cans were surrounded by in the United States during the time the movie was presented to a

broad audience. In light of the discriminatory situations the black community was exposed to,

it is not surprising that they longed for a change they achieved by creating and realizing the

idea of the New Negro, an idea that was influenced and shaped by the reactions against

Griffith's movie.

For the most part, the black historian and professor Rayford W. Logan was right in

claiming that the period following Reconstruction, up until the early 20

century, reflects a

nadir, a figurative low point in the existence of African Americans.

In the words of the

human rights advocate Stetson Kennedy, the black community was degraded to a "second-

class citizenship" since the United States represented "a white man's country".

These

arguments can be affirmed by taking a closer look at the legal, violent and cultural forms of

racial discrimination the black community of the United States had to face during this time.

2.1. Legal Discrimination

In 1863 the president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, signed the

Emancipation Proclamation, which ensured that "all persons held as slaves within any State

shall be thenceforward, and forever free [and won't be] repress[ed]."

As a result of this

historic document, in conjunction with the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amend-

ments of the American Constitution that were mentioned in the introduction, all citizens of the

United States, including African Americans, were promised equal treatment in all spheres of

life. This fact, however, met with strong disapproval from many white citizens. They created

W. E. B. Du Bois, Dark Water: Voices from Within the Veil (Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 1999) 143.

Rayford W. Logan, The Negro in the United States: A Brief History (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand, 1957) 101-

102.

Stetson Kennedy, Jim Crow Guide to the U.S.A.: The Laws, Customs and Etiquette Governing the Conduct of

Nonwhites and other Minorities as Second-Class Citizens ( Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973) 7.

Logan, 106.

various discriminatory laws to continue the oppression of blacks, thus preventing them from

escaping their second-class status.

Laws enacted and various customs made to suppress the black community in the Unit-

ed States, known as Jim Crow laws, originated right after the Reconstruction era in 1877 and

lasted until the 1960s.

Their main goals can be divided into two subcategories that were

aimed at maintaining the supremacy of white people in the US. The two categories, disenfran-

chising African Americans and segregating them in almost all spheres of life, including public

places, means of transportation, social institutions and others, legitimized their second-class

status in society and will be analyzed in the following.

The first section of the Fifteenth Amendment promises that "[t]he right [...] to vote

shall not be denied or abridged [...] on account of race, color, or previous condition of

servitude."

This part of the Constitution guarantees that people of all classes and colors,

including African Americans, ultimately have the political right to vote. This right, however,

was not supported by many white citizens of the US, who instigated several counteractions

that resulted in the disfranchisement of many black people, especially those living in the

Southern states by, 1910.

The main reason for disenfranchising blacks was the threat of their power conservative

whites believed they would be exposed to. As can be seen in Figure 1 (see appendix), African

Americans constituted a majority in several southern states, such as South Carolina, Missis-

sippi and Louisiana, throughout the 1870s and up until 1890. In many other southern states,

blacks accounted for at least 40 per cent of the total population. In light of their soaring

numbers in many southern states, by gaining the right to vote, African Americans had for the

first time in their lives the power to transform the political landscape of the country they

inhabited. Southern democrats felt threatened by this, since they aimed to retain their political

power, which supported the idea of maintaining the African American as a second-class

citizen. The democrats, however, lost the vote of 1884 when the African American communi-

ty supported, and voted, for the Republican Party in large numbers.

The democrats, of course, wanted to regain their power and achieved this aim by pre-

venting African Americans from voting, mainly with the help of constitutional means. These

lawful actions included the creation of a poll tax, which many blacks couldn't afford, and the

institution of a literacy test, since many blacks could not read or write as a large number had

Cf. David Pilgrim, "Who Was Jim Crow?," Ferris State University (2000)

<http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/who.htm>. 14.10.2011.

Logan, 114.

Logan, 59.

Cf. Kenneth C. Barnes, Who Killed John Clayton? Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South,

1861-1893 ( Durham: Duke University Press, 1998) 3.

not received any education during slavery. Moreover, voter registrations and the grandfather

clause, which granted veterans and their descendents the right to vote in the case that those

veterans had been allowed to do so prior to 1866, were introduced.

Since most of the

former slaves had not been allowed to vote prior to 1866, nor were their descendents. As a

consequence, democrats achieved their aim of depredating the blacks of their voting rights.

Also accepted by law were the discriminations blacks faced in their social environ-

ment, for example, in public institutions. This second-class treatment received by African

Americans, best-known as `separate but equal', was first mentioned in the US Supreme Court

decision Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896. In this case, it was questioned whether it is unlawful to

"require[e] railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches [...], to provide equal, but

separate, accommodations for the white and colored races."

The court decided that this

undertaking was lawful and thus paved the road for future areas of legal segregation.

The places where segregation took place were countless. The list of Jim Crow laws

that were a part of the colored person's daily life is too long and would demand more space

than this paper offers. It can, however, be shortly summarized that African Americans were

segregated in almost every public place. They were, for example, not allowed to enter public

swimming places, had to attend segregated schools, churches, neighborhoods, restaurants,

parks, places of amusement, such as theaters, and were designated separate areas in public

means of transportation, among other things.

In case African Americans violated one of

these Jim Crow laws, they had to face insults and were mostly refused any service.

Besides being segregated physically, African Americans and whites were also separat-

ed emotionally. In various states of the US, two people from different races were not allowed

to be engaged in a relationship. This fact was even forbidden by law. As a human rights

activist stated, "in 29 states of the U.S.A. it is against the law for persons of different race to

make love, marry, or have children."

If any of these regulations were violated, severe

consequences for both partners involved, such as imprisonment for up to ten years, a fine, the

loss of a child and the denial of marriage could be the result.

Cf. Brownlow, 90.

"Grandfather Clause," West's Encyclopedia of American Law (2005)

<http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/grandfather_clause.aspx#1-1G2:3437702022-full>. 20.9.2011.

"Plessy v. Ferguson," US Supreme Court Center (1896)

<http://supreme.justia.com/us/163/537/case.html>. 18.10.2011.

Plessy v. Ferguson.

Kennedy, 193-196.

Walter White, "The Paradox of Color," The New Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance Ed. Alain LeRoy

Locke (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997) 362.

Kennedy, 58.

Ibid. 58.

In general, many states of the United States executed Jim Crow laws that legalized the

segregation of African Americans and thus rendered them second-class citizens, in legal

terms.

2.2. Violent Discrimination

Following Reconstruction, African Americans were not only exposed to threats and

fraud, but had to face violent assaults which were usually conducted by mobs that either acted

on their own racially-prejudiced convictions, or on behalf of racist groups, such as the Ku

Klux Klan.

These groups were usually against the equality of colored people and aimed at

keeping them poor and reliant, since many conservative white people saw them as a threat to

their traditional values and their society, which they were convinced, would be destroyed if

blacks received equal rights.

The most drastic form of violence used against African Americans was murder, often

in the form of lynching. This usually involved a mob killing a black person, mostly by

burning or hanging the victim, and justifying this action by claiming that the African Ameri-

can was guilty of a harsh crime, such as murder or other, lesser offenses.

Frequently,

however, African Americans were not lynched for any crimes they had committed but, as the

black leader W. E. B. Du Bois claimed, it actually "was blackness that was condemned and

not crime."

As can be seen in Figure 2, pictures were taken of the victims surrounded by a

large white crowd, who seem to celebrate the occasion. These public executions were con-

ducted on purpose in order to intimidate the colored community.

The NAACP has engaged with the topic of lynching and compiled valuable statistics

about this violent discrimination in the early 20

century. First of all, it must be stated that not

only black people, but also white individuals were victims of lynching. However, their

numbers are much smaller than the number of African Americans lynched. This becomes

obvious in Figure 3 (created by the NAACP) which depicts the numbers of white and black

people lynched in the US between 1889 and 1918. The number of white people lynched is

always significantly smaller than those victims of African decent.

Even though the numbers slowly decreased in the early 1900s, an average of 50 black

people were lynched every year throughout the 1910s. This means that by the time The Birth

of a Nation was released in 1915, lynching was still a part of the daily lives of Americans,

W.D. Weatherford, "Killing and Lying," The Crisis (June 1916) 72.

Cf. William Loren Katz, The Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan Impact on History (Washington, DC: Open

Hand Pub, 1986) 19, 29-30.

Weatherford, 72.

Du Bois, Dark Water, 20.

especially for those living in the South, since most of this type of crime took place in that part

of the United States (see Figure 4). The majority of the US states, however, have been

involved in lynchings, specifically intended to remind African Americans of their lower status

in society, a status which they were not supposed to break free of.

2.3. Cultural Discrimination

"Whoever controls the film industry controls the most

powerful medium of influence over the public."

Thomas Edison

The cultural environment surrounding African Americans was most likely partly re-

sponsible for the legal and violent forms of racism that were analyzed earlier. Its negative and

stereotypical portrayal of colored people resulted in the justification for suppressing these

second-class citizens legally and violently. With the emergence of silent movies in the early

century, these stereotypes could be visually portrayed in a much more effective way than

any caricature or book description was able to achieve. The Birth of a Nation portrays just

such a negative picture of the African American. Before discussing the movie's degrading

portrayal of black people, it is necessary to be informed about the creators of the movie and

the reasons for its wide success. Both men had many similarities, which most likely resulted

in their positive collaboration regarding the movie. Moreover, the main reasons for the film's

wide popularity will be discussed. The following plot summary of the film will shed light on

the negative portrayal of the colored citizens.

David Wark Griffith, born in 1875, and Thomas Dixon Jr., born in 1864, had many

experiences and attitudes in common which greatly contributed to their collaboration on The

Birth of a Nation. Both shared a similar past, since both had grown up in the southern part of

the United States, Griffith in the border state of Kentucky, and Dixon in North Carolina

during a time when the aftermath of the Civil War and the influence of Reconstruction could

be felt.

Like other southerners, the families of both men were exposed to poverty, owned

slaves which they lost during Reconstruction and were supporters, and even fought on the

side, of the confederacy during the Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865.

These similar backgrounds led to a shared belief in the Southern Lost Cause. This

belief saw southerners distorting history in order to claim that their role in the Civil War, and

Cf. Peter Noble, The Negro in Films (New York: Arno Press, 1970) 9.

Cf. Melvyn Stokes, D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation: A History of "the Most Controversial Motion

Picture of All Time" (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007) 27, 55.

Ibid. 29, 57.

during Reconstruction, was presented wrongly and that they fought for a worthy and righteous

cause, thus finding a justification for some of their controversial actions, such as the approval

and support of slavery and the institution of the Ku Klux Klan.

This belief became apparent

in several statements made by both men when talking about The Birth of a Nation. Dixon, for

example, stated that he wrote the book the film is mainly based on, The Clansman, and

supported shooting the movie since "it expresses the passionate faith of the entire white

population of the South" that was until then, in his opinion, portrayed wrongly.

Griffith was

also convinced that the South had been portrayed in the wrong light. He claimed that "[t]he

real story of the Reconstruction Era has never been filmed".

Griffith, thus influenced by his

past, wanted to tell "the truth about the South, touched by its eternal romance which I had

learned to know so well."

Like Dixon, he was not only convinced that the South's beauty was not portrayed cor-

rectly but that the history of the whole Civil War, Reconstruction Era and especially the role

of the Ku Klux Klan during these times was misinterpreted. For example, Griffith was

convinced that the Klan had been the South's savior during the war and Reconstruction.

Dixon's conviction concerning this matter becomes especially apparent in his Reconstruction

Trilogy, consisting of The Leopard's Spots, The Clansman and The Traitor. In the very last

line of The Clansman, he claims that owing to the Ku Klux Klan, "Civilization has been

saved, and the South redeemed from shame."

Examples like this of the Southern Lost Cause

permeate the entire movie.

Furthermore, both men liked to articulate their similar opinions by sharing affection

for writing. Besides his career as an author, Dixon was, amongst other things, a student of

politics together with Woodrow Wilson, a lawyer, a minister and an actor; however, he was

extremely angered by the portrayal of Southerners in general and thus was highly ambitious

about portraying southern history the `right' way in his Reconstruction trilogy.

Griffith, as

well, liked to act and write with the aim of convincing the audience with regard to the correct

history of the Civil War and Reconstruction. For example, he acted in Dixon's The Clansman

and wrote and directed movies that were concerned with the South. Following this, he was

Cf. Gary W. Gallagher, "Introduction," The Myth of the Lost Cuse and Civil War History Eds. Gary W.

Gallagher, Alan T. Nolan. Bloomington (Ind: Indiana Univ. Press, 2001) 1.

Cf. Fred Silva, Focus on The Birth of a Nation ( Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 971) 91.

Aitken, 25.

Cf. Silva, 57.

Aitken , 25.

Thomas Dixon Jr., The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (Lexington: The University

Press of Kentucky, 1970) 374.

Cf. Stokes, 27, 32, 35.

involved in the production of eleven movies concerned with the Civil War era, prior to the

making of The Birth of a Nation.

The collaboration of these two similar men regarding their attitude to the Civil War

and Reconstruction resulted in the creation of the most popular silent movie of its time, which

owes its popularity to three influential factors. Until The Birth of Nation was produced,

movies were usually short, mostly consisting of only one reel, inexpensive, played in cheap

movie theaters known as nickelodeons, and were mostly viewed by the working class.

With the release of The Birth of a Nation, the negative perception of movies began to

change, due in large parts to its various innovations. It was not only the first movie to be

twelve reels long, which accounts for about three hours, but its production costs of $100,000

were, moreover, the highest ever dealt with in the movie industry. Furthermore, the admission

charge, which was usually below $1 and only accounted for some cents, only amounted up to

$2 for this production.

The Birth of a Nation, thus, was the longest and most expensive

silent movie made at that time. Four main factors were responsible for waking the desire in

US citizens of all social classes to watch such a long and expensive movie.

First of all, technical innovations not many people had experimented with before were

used by Griffith and thus enhanced the popularity of the movie. For example, he often

changed camera angles and used close ups. Moreover, Griffith was one of the first movie

directors to play with light and dark, and one of the first producers to perform night shots with

the help of "a secret new process."

In addition, newspapers advertised that new devices were

used to project the movie and that optical experts were hired to guarantee a perfect view of the

screen.

The orchestra that was present during almost every show in the US's big cities was

also a positive innovation. It consisted of almost forty people who accompanied the movie

scene by scene and thus created a more realistic feeling. This effect was described by a

Boston newspaper, which stated that the music "express[es] the spirit of the martial or

romantic tunes."

Advertisement in general contributed to the movie's popularity. The siblings Roy and

Harry Aitken who produced the Birth of a Nation were "among the first [to see the movie

industry] as a profit-making enterprise."

And, in order to make a profit, the product to be

Ibid. 65-68.

Cf. Stokes, 4.

Ibid. 3.

"Stars and Stories of the Film World: Farewell Appearance here of Griffith's Spectacle "The Birth of a

Nation"," The Atlanta Constitution (19 March 1919) 2.

"Motion Picture Art.: Latest Scientific Devices Used in Projecting "The Birth of a Nation" on the Screen,"

Boston Daily Globe (5 April 1915) 13.

"Attractions at the Theaters: "The Birth of a Nation" Pictures at the Tremont," Boston Globe (2 May 1915) 58.

Aitken, 12.

sold needs to be advertised. It comes as no surprise that the Aitken brothers were owners of

the first film company that bought large advertising space in newspapers, filling whole

pages.

Figure 5 presents a typical advertisement for The Birth of a Nation, taken from the

Boston Daily Globe in 1915, the like of which could be traced in many national newspapers

following the movie's release. This large ad is intended to convince its readers to watch the

movie by providing several pieces of information, such as the high number of people and

horses involved in shooting it, the production cost, the presence of an orchestra and, probably

most effective, statements of known personalities that had watched the film. The Boston

governor Walsh, for example, stated that the movie would "correct bitter notions of Civil War

and Reconstruction times."

Another viewer, Mayor-General John F. O'Ryan of New York,

claimed that the film is "[h]istorically and educationally [...] a most wonderful achieve-

ment."

Other advertisements even functioned as teasers by depicting some scenes, such as

the battlefield, Abraham Lincoln or the Ku Klux Klan riders from the movie (see Figure 6).

In addition, President Woodrow Wilson's reaction to the movie was also partially re-

sponsible for its popularity. Dixon and Wilson were fellow students at Johns Hopkins

University and thus it comes as no surprise that, as a favor to his friend Dixon, the president,

fifteen senators, his cabinet and representatives were asserted to have watched and approved

the movie on February 18

1915.

It is also often argued that Wilson, after seeing the

movie, said "It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so

terribly true."

It is not clear if he ever made this statement. However, by using the real or

fictitious approval of the president in newspapers as means of publicity, Dixon and Griffith

most probably assured a curiosity regarding the movie in the general public.

The final factor that resulted in the movie's great popularity was its educational value.

With the help of the film, Griffith wanted to please "[t]he foremost educators [...][who] have

urged upon moving-picture producers to put away [...] the imitation of the fiction of the

cheap magazines and go into the field of history of our subjects."

Being mainly based on

Thomas Dixon Jr.'s The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots, The Birth of a Nation focuses on

the historical and educational themes of the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. Its authen-

ticity is increased with the help of blended-in newspaper articles dealing with topics such as

Aitken, 42.

"Display Ad The Birth of a Nation," Boston Daily Globe (11 April 1915) 59.

Ibid.

Cf. Stokes, 32.

"Censors to Pass on it," Boston Daily Globe (8 April 1915) 9.

Cf. Franklin, 425.

Cf. Silva, 59.

secession, and texts that refer to sources like the excerpts from President Woodrow Wilson's

History of the American People, or further historical facsimiles, exact copies of an original

source.

In consideration of these themes and their believable depiction in the movie, The

Birth of a Nation is considered to be "the first time in art production that history in the large

has been presented in living pictures" and should consequently be satisfactory to the demands

of the educators.

Indeed, the film greatly influenced its white viewers, who considered it to be of high

educational value. This becomes apparent when considering the high numbers of school

teachers who wanted their students to watch the movie. In New York, for example, the heads

of eleven schools wanted to take their students to see The Birth of a Nation at the Liberty

theater.

In Atlanta, about 600 school children were lined up at the ticket counter hoping to

get hold of the much desired seats (see Figure 7). Furthermore, in Texas, history students

were asked to participate in an essay contest with the theme "Why Every Student of American

History should see `The Birth of a Nation'."

In light of these examples, it becomes obvious

that the movie not only entertained Americans in an innovative way but was also considered

to represent and to be capable of educating people about true historical events, even though

several incidents were portrayed in an incorrect way, especially the role of the African

American.

In consideration of the advancements this movie offered to the film industry, the ques-

tion arises why especially black US citizens did not celebrate this cinematic innovation but

instead thought it to be discriminatory and historically inaccurate. Thus, in order to under-

stand the agitation of the colored citizens, the content of The Birth of a Nation needs to be

analyzed. In doing so, it will become apparent that the film is negrophobic, which means that

it displays a fear and dislike of black people enjoying equal rights.

The first part of the movie is concerned with the Civil War, which lasted from 1961 until

1965, and it then changes focus to the following Reconstruction era, which ended in 1877.

These time periods are depicted with the help of two families, the Camerons and the Stone-

mans. The Camerons, consisting of Mrs. and Dr. Cameron and the children Colonel Ben,

Margaret, Wade, Duke and Flora, live in the South, whereas the Stonemans, consisting of

Austin Stoneman, a parliamentary leader and father of Tod, Elsie and Phil, hail from the

David Wark Griffith, The Birth of a Nation: Adapted from Thomas Dixons Novel (London: Eureka Video,

2002) 00:15:50; 1:28:34; 1:20:50.

"At the Local Theaters this Week: "The Birth of a Nation"," The Atlanta Constitution (12 December 1915) B4.

"Why "The Birth of a Nation" is Shown: Tremendous Volume of Praise completely Drowns out Antiphony of

a few Opponents," Boston Daily Globe (9 April 1915) 15.

"Why History Students Should See "The Birth of a Nation"," Fort Worth Star-Telegram (20 March 1919) 6.

northern part of the US. The movie begins by portraying the antebellum time in the South, the

period prior to the Civil War. The life in Piedmont, South Carolina seems very idyllic and free

of any problems. The Cameron siblings tease and play, and even cats and dogs get along

peacefully.

During a visit from Tod, Duke and Phil Stoneman, together with the Cameron siblings,

they stroll over cotton fields which are maintained by black slaves.

The black people

depicted seem friendly, nice and satisfied with their work. After a while, they meet a crowd of

black people on their two hour break from work who are joyous, dance and appear to be

happy.

These first scenes of African Americans clearly demonstrate their inferior position,

with which, however, they seem to be satisfied. What is degrading is the way they are

depicted during the above-mentioned dancing scene. Most of them do not stand straight but

move monkey-like and dance in a silly way, which makes them appear mentally disabled. By

depicting the black slaves in this manner, Griffith implicitly justifies their inferior status in

society, and, by the same token, the white people's superiority.

The film then changes focus to the outbreak of the Civil War, the main cause of which

is not presented as the institution of slavery, created by white men, but as African Americans.

This becomes obvious in the sentence that is depicted on the movie screen during its first

minute. It reads that "[t]he bringing of the African to America planted the first seed of

disunion."

The disunion then climaxes with Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Procla-

mation, which, as mentioned in section 2.1, outlawed slavery. As a result, secession takes

place and 75.000 volunteers are called for. The Stoneman brothers fight for the Union army,

whereas the Cameron siblings support the opposing Confederacy. Over the course of the war,

two Cameron brothers and one Stoneman brother are killed.

The movie then depicts the worsening situation of the Piedmont inhabitants. Poverty

deepens and a thieving and violent black guerrilla invades the city. In this racist depiction,

with the help of their wild gestures and their unscrupulous behaviour, blacks are reminiscent

of beasts. This portrayal represents one point of the southern lost cause which supports

slavery. Without this institution, blacks only cause trouble, behave rudely and lack any

respect or remorse. In the end, only the heroic white confederacy is able to stop them.

Shortly after this incident in South Carolina, the Union wins the war and Ben Camer-

on, (also referred to as "the little Colonel"), who was wounded during a battle, is transported

into a hospital where Elsie Stoneman is volunteering as a nurse. As Mrs. Cameron arrives, she

Griffith, 00:5:10.

Ibid. 00:12:24.

Ibid. 00:14:17.

Ibid. 00:1:43.

learns that her son is supposed to be hanged as a guerrilla. In order to prevent this from

happening, Elsie encourages her to appeal to the president, who repeals the death sentence.

Ben Cameron, who has fallen in love with Elsie, then returns to his southern home, along with

his mother.

Meanwhile, radical northerners, including Austin Stoneman, speak out against Lin-

coln's mildness towards the south. Stoneman demands that the south's "leaders must be

hanged and their states treated as conquered provinces."

The figure Stoneman is supposed to

represent Thaddeus Stevens, a radical republican during the Civil War and Reconstruction era

who supported "abolition, the arming of black troops, equal rights, and black suffrage."

was known for always speaking out, in a rather snappy tone, about what was on his mind and

was thus often seen as "truculent, vindictive, and cynical."

In consequence, people used to

have prejudices against Stevens, such as Lillian Gish, the actress who plays Elsie Stoneman

who thought that Stevens' southern policy destroyed Abraham Lincoln's post-war aims.

The

movie thus not only distorts the picture of African Americans but also radicalizes the picture

of their supporters. Most white people in the movie are depicted as average persons, whereas

Stoneman's character, a supporter of African Americans, looks grim, gestures wildly and is

unfriendly. According to Dixon and Griffith, Stoneman's character, however, only becomes

this cold due to the influence his mulatto housemaid, Lydia Brown has over him. In The

Clansman, people even gossip about the fact that she dominates "the old Commoner and his

life."

Thus, the movie informs its audience once again that handing black people too much

power will result in harm.

The movie continues by depicting Lincoln's assassination in the theater in 1865 by

John Wilkes Booth, which is witnessed by Phil and Elsie.

With this incident, the second and

main part of the movie, the Reconstruction era, begins. Following this, "[t]he Executive

Mansion of the nation has shifted from the White House to this strange house on the Capitol

Hill", Stoneman's home, whose new closest colleague is "Silas Lynch, mulatto leader of the

blacks."

Lynch, along with Lydia Brown, looks like the African Americans depicted during

the black guerrilla scene. They have a grim facial expression, are power-seeking, unscrupu-

lous, and, as will be seen later, try to achieve their aims by every means possible. Moreover,

Griffith, 1:18:32.

Cf. Tyler Anbinder, "Old Thad Stevens: A Story of Frustrated Ambition," Reviews in American History 26:3

(1998) <http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/reviews_in_american_history/v026/26.3anbinder.html>.

20.11.2011

. 546.

Ibid.

Cf. Silva, 43.

Dixon, The Clansman, 58.

Griffith, 1:25:26.

Ibid. 1:29:09; 1:29:48.

their strangeness is intensified with the use of blackface. In the movie, hardly any African

American actors were used. Instead, white actors were painted to imitate blacks, as it was the

trend in the popular minstrel shows of that time.

This makes the actors portraying blacks in

film appear unreal.

Soon after the beginning of the Reconstruction era, the southern black community

gains more power, which is the result of the actions undertaken by Stoneman and Lynch.

Stoneman orders Lynch to go to Piedmont to help the carpetbaggers, people who left the

North to find more political success in the South, gain the power of the black vote.

addition, the Freedman's Bureau for freed ex-slaves that provided all kinds of supplies to the

African American population is established. Stoneman soon follows and stays at the Camer-

ons' house, acting upon the advice of his physician, who claims that the mild climate will help

cure his illness.

Dixon and Griffith attempt to convince the viewer that this generosity, and

the new freedom of African Americans, will only lead to trouble. According to Stoneman, the

only aim of the blacks is to "crush the white South under the heel of the black South."

This

aim is soon achieved by the control that is gained of the State House of Representatives, the

passage of a bill that allows the intermarriage of white and black people and the right to vote

for colored people, whilst at the same time, most white people are disenfranchised. During a

legislative session, blacks are depicted as being entirely without manners; they drink, eat

chicken, talk and put their bare feet on the table.

At this, African Americans are demonstrat-

ed in a primitive and uncivilized way. Again, The Birth of a Nation discriminates against

black people through these depictions, justifying white people's supremacy by implying that

freed blacks do not make reasonable decisions.

To curtail this perceived threat posed by African Americans, Ben Cameron, inspired

by children playing with a bed-sheet, decides to form the Ku Klux Klan, "the organization

that saved the South from the anarchy of black rule."

The importance of the group is also

emphasized in newspaper advertisements for the movie. Some ads depict the disguised

clansmen riding on their horses and wearing crosses around their necks, which stand for

Christian values. The movie claims that these robes were made by loyal southern women who

supported the protective group.

Cf. Noble, 14.

Griffith, 1:33:20.

Ibid. 1:36:58.

Ibid. 2:01:06.

Ibid. 1:54:39.

Ibid. 1:59:09.

Griffith, 2:03:58.

Details

Pages
Type of Edition: Erstausgabe
Year: 2013
ISBN (PDF): 9783954896516
ISBN (Softcover): 9783954891511
File size: 3.7 MB
Language: English
Publication date: 2014 (February)
Keywords: The Birth of a Nation New Negro Harlem Renaissance David Wark Griffith Thomas Dixon

Author

Stefanie Laufs (Author)

Stefanie Laufs, M.A., was born in Bad Langensalza in 1987. She studied American Studies at the Universität Leipzig and the Freie Universität Berlin. The author received a Master‘s degree in 2012. During her studies, she specialized in American culture and history. A trip to Louisiana motivated her to write about the topic at hand.

Fighting a Movie with Lightning : „The Birth of a Nation“ and the Black Community

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Stefanie Laufs (Author)