The Birth of a Nation was a 1915 silent film, directed by D.W. Griffith, fictionalizing the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction. At the time of its release, it was considered a pioneering artistic achievement in the history of cinema. But, in reality, it was a racist piece of “Lost Cause” propaganda, seeking to transform the Ku Klux Klan from terrorists into heroic vigilantes who rescued the South from uncivilized blacks.
This film rewrote the history of Reconstruction, seeking to redeem the South and erase the positive contributions and progress that African Americans had made. African American men are vilified and shown as vengeful former slaves, while the Ku Klux Klan is celebrated as protecting the country from the perils of racial equality. Not only was this portrayal untrue, it was the opposite of what actually happened. During Reconstruction, the Klan terrorized and assaulted countless numbers of African Americans in order to intimidate them from exercising their basic rights, including voting.
The NAACP, founded in 1909, strongly opposed the film and even sought to have it banned. But their protests were not successful. The film screened widely, even at the White House for President Woodrow Wilson. Not long after the film's release, the KKK was reborn.
During the 20th century, many Americans learned about Reconstruction through the distorted viewpoint in films like The Birth of a Nation. The film is considered the greatest blockbuster of the silent film era. Thomas Dixon, who wrote the book The Clansman, on which The Birth of a Nation was based, reveled in its success. "The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern audiences that would transform every man into a Southern partisan for life."
