Note:
Backlash of Birth of a Nation, highly racist and filled with propaganda.
William Trotter protested Birth of a Nation in Boston/ Trotter came from a wealthy family and went to Harvard and met W.E.D. Dubois
Griffith’s idea of the Klan is folklore because of when he was born. By the time he became popular his family was considered “white trash” in the South.
Griffith’s father died when he was 10 and his family lived in poverty.
Segregation was unfolding in the US
Trotter created “The Guardian” newspaper to challenge Booker T. Washington
Trotter and Dubois go to Niagara falls and creates the NAACP.
Griffith is focusing on cinema/Trotter is focusing on what is happening in nation’s capital
The book “The Clansman” has become a nationwide best seller and play. Griffith starts working on filming ‘The Clansman”.
- The newspaper and organizations created were The Guardian and the NAACP
- These organizations created a voice for black American’s and allowed them to speak out against segregation and racism.
- The differences between Trotter and Dubois was that Trotter was more activist and was speaking out at meetings and going to the White House and Dubois had a more neutral stance.
- hen the banning of the film failed, Trotter led protests to theaters and in the streets to let theater owners and movie goers alike know that the film was full of propaganda and lies and that it should not be seen. Unfortunately, this had an inverse effect of making people want to see it and making it a bigger event.
- The lynching of African Americans was common in the United States at this time. The Birth of a Nation was seen as possible accelerant for this type of violence because it portrayed blacks as crooked people who were going to take away white peoples’ rights. At the same time, it portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as an organization that would save the day had history gone the correct way in the eyes of Dixon and Griffith.
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