Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/462877
21 WINTER 2015 / CINEMONTAGE Most flagrant in this regard was the movie's openly stated white paranoia of being crushed "under the heel of the black South," leaving unstated the historic oppression of African Americans by the white South. The entire action of the movie's final hour is triggered by the lust of black men — portrayed by white men in blackface — for virginal white women. The film contends that the real birth of the American nation occurs when "the former enemies of North and South are united again in common defence (sic) of their Aryan birthright." Prominent liberal periodicals including The Nation and The New Statesman supported the protests, which led to several local temporary bans on the film. Five weeks after the New York opening, 170 shots comprising nine minutes of inflammatory images were removed. Then the White House issued a statement that the President "has at no time expressed his approbation of it [the film]. Its exhibition at the White House was a courtesy extended to an old acquaintance." Birth continued its run at the Liberty for 11 months, selling over one million tickets in New York City, and its distribution spread across the country, drawing huge audiences. In larger markets, Aitken drummed up publicity with opening-day parades of horsemen in Klan robes. Although estimates of its box office returns vary, there is no question that it was the biggest moneymaker of the silent era. Griffith went on to produce Intolerance, so titled to protest his critics' intolerance of his right to express his perspective on American history. Though Intolerance was a box office failure, it influenced film editing in foreign cinemas far more than Griffith's earlier movie. In the meantime, however, Birth drew one more significant response from a portion of the American public. On the night of November 25, 1915, Thanksgiving Eve, William J. Simmons and 15 others in hooded robes, set fire to a cross on Stone Mountain in Georgia to establish a new Ku Klux Klan. It may be difficult to attribute to the Klan the 1918 spike in black lynchings, but the new group grew into a national organization with more than four million members over the 1920s. During Reconstruction, the Klan had no organized structure. The name was adopted by many separately formed local groups of masked terrorists intimidating African Americans. Once the Jim Crow laws were in place, there was no more need of them; the terrorism had become institutionalized. From that time on, being black in the South was like living in a police state. The 20th-century national Klan's network supported this system of oppression well into the Civil Rights era. The Birth of a Nation cannot be simply dismissed as a reflection of its time, an acceptance of prevailing American social attitudes. Griffith not only accepted such attitudes — he encouraged their belief and anchored them more firmly in our living experience, as is still evident today. Answering accusations of being against people of color, Griffith is quoted in Gish's autobiography as saying, "[T]hat is like saying that I am against children…they were our children whom we loved and cared for all our lives." The depth of this love and care may be fathomed in the words of Cora Hawkins. She had been a maid in Griffith's New York household for years before his move to California. If she was not born a slave, her parents almost certainly were. After seeing the movie, she went to Griffith's rooms at the Astor Hotel to tell him, "It hurt me, Mr. David, to see what you do to my people." f intimidating African Americans. Once the Jim Crow laws were in place, there was no more need of them; the terrorism had become institutionalized. From that time on, being black in the South was like living in a police state. The 20th-century national Klan's network supported this system of oppression well into the Civil Rights era. Nation simply dismissed as a reflection of its time, an acceptance of prevailing American social attitudes. Griffith not only accepted such attitudes — he encouraged their belief and anchored them more firmly in our living experience, as is still evident today. Poster art for The Birth of a Nation, Photofest.