Auteur D.W. Griffith made cinematic history with the 1915 release of his epic film “The Birth of a Nation.”
The 3 hour drama featured armies at battle, the recreation of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and a heroic “cavalry” that rode in to save the day. Those heroes, however, were hooded Klansmen.
The movie was a huge hit.
“Americans had never seen anything like it,” says author Dick Lehr. “Griffith brought to bear film making techniques that audiences also hadn’t experienced.”
Author Dick Lehr tells Steve Fast that “The Birth of a Nation” was perhaps the first real “event movie.” Lehr also says the film was a sad reflection of racial views that were too common in 1915.
“His depiction of ex-slaves, freed blacks, is also astonishingly abhorrent. It’s racist to the core,” Lehr says. “In all walks of life at the time there was this embedded racism that was validating Griffith’s views.”
A national protest against Griffith’s film was led by William Monroe Trotter, a Boston newspaper editor and activist. Lehr writes about the battles of Trotter and early civil rights leaders to have screenings of Griffith’s film banned. Lehr’s book on the topic is also titled “The Birth of a Nation.”
Listen to the interview: Dick Lehr on The Steve Fast Show
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