The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 silent drama movie. It was directed by D. W. Griffith. It was based on the book The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, Jr. It stars Lillian Gish.

The Birth of a Nation
Movie poster
Directed by	D. W. Griffith
Written by	D. W. Griffith, T. F. Dixon, Jr. Frank E. Woods
Produced by	D. W. Griffith, Harry Aitken[1]
Starring	Lillian Gish Mae Marsh Henry B. Walthall Miriam Cooper Ralph Lewis George Siegmann
Cinematography	G.W. Bitzer
Edited by	D. W. Griffith
Music by	Joseph Carl Breil
Production company	David W. Griffith Corp.
Distributed by	Epoch Producing Co.
Release date	February 8, 1915 (1915-02-08)
Running time	190 minutes (at 16 frame/s)
Country	United States
Languages	Silent film English intertitles

The movie is about two families during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era. The Northern Stoneman family is pro-Union. The Southern Cameron family is pro-Confederacy. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth is dramatized. It is a white supremacist and antisemitic film.

The movie was a great success. It was very controversial though. It showed African-American men (played by white actors in blackface) as stupid and sexually aggressive towards white women. It also showed the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force.[2] There were protests.[3] The movie was banned in several cities. The outcry of racism was great.[4] Screenings were often followed by riots and attacks.

The movie is also credited in part with the formation of the "second era" Ku Klux Klan the same year. The Birth of a Nation was used as a recruiting tool for the KKK.[5] In 1915, it was the first movie to be shown at the White House, by Democrat Woodrow Wilson.[6][7]