Throughout the years I’ve often read about this film, seeing the offensive clips and images — not feeling the need to look any further into it. While researching Reconstruction-era revisionism, this film and the novel it’s based on (The Clansman by Thomas Dixon) come up repetitively. But, I knew it was a 3-hour movie and after many hours of consumption on the subject, I had only seen maybe 3-minutes or less of total footage. So, I decided to put myself through something I had been putting off for many years. I’m not going to lie, it was painful to get through. I was thorough in taking notes, as well as taking screenshots, but I’m ultimately glad I did. It revealed much more than I thought it would about The Lost Cause narrative, including what I see as a major course change in the way that that story is told. This movie was without a doubt a cinematic breakthrough, but I won’t talk about that other than to say that was an excuse used by many to ignore the content of the story. It cannot be understated what the negative effect of this film was on this nation. So, below I want to lay out some of the history surrounding the movie, as well as a detailed review (with pictures). This is probably one of my longest “Revisionist Reviews,” but the content of this movie made me want to take time to point out some of the actual history, as well as highlighting some of the overlooked historical figures. Thank you for your time if you read this! It’s mostly pictures anyways…
On April 26, 1913, A thirteen-year-old girl, Mary Phagan, was found raped and murdered in the basement of the National Pencil Company where she worked in Marietta, Georgia. A Jewish worker from New York, Leo Frank, was ultimately tried and convicted of the crimes. After a couple years of unsuccessful appeals, around 100 men would organize as “The Knights of Mary Phagan.” They would select around 25 men to carry out the task of getting retribution for Mary. They had been called to order by local bigot, Atlanta race riot instigator, and former U.S. Representative, Thomas E. Watson. Watson had decided that the coverage of the case — and the appeal process — had been effected by an international Jewish conspiracy. A theme that would become common in the coming decades for those self-appointed knights. On August 16, 1915, the Knights of Mary Phagan abducted Leo Frank from a Georgia prison farm and hanged him in the first known lynching by automobile in America (traveling lynch mob by car, in my understanding). There is a historical marker in that location today.
Exactly two months later these same men would be part of the first group to summit Stone Mountain, Georgia for the first ever cross-burning ceremony of the newly reborn Ku Klux Klan. While hospitalized some months earlier, William Joseph Simmons became fixated on a fever dream he had bringing about the ultimate fraternity. He had some failings in the past with other orders like the Knights Templar, Masons, Odd Fellows and others. He had heard word that Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansman had just been made into a successful motion picture. So, he obtained a copy of the 1867 Reconstruction-era Klan prescript and got busy. Essentially he added a bunch of K’s and KL’s to words and some other coded jargon and a series of passwords—you know secret society stuff. On October 26th, 1915, they signed an application with the State of Georgia to charter the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan as a “purely benevolent and eleemosynary” fraternal order. Simmons designated himself as Imperial Wizard, similar to that of Nathan Bedford Forrest before him. Simmons would perform another cross-burning ceremony at Stone Mountain the week of Thanksgiving for a handful of new members. The preliminary charter was approved by the State of Georgia on December 4, 1915 — two days before D. W. Griffith’s groundbreaking and history revising film, The Birth of a Nation, was set to premiere in Atlanta. Simmons had taken out an advertisement in an Atlanta paper right next to the movies ad, hoping to capitalize on the films success that was already sweeping the nation. And capitalize they did. On the night of the premier, Simmons and some of his newly christened knights put on their freshest bed sheets, saddled up on horseback, and fired rifle salutes into the air, as they rode back in forth on Peachtree Street — riling up the the patrons lined up outside of the Atlanta Theater. This was an effective stunt they would repeat at future showings. In the next two weeks Simmons initiated 92 new members in Georgia—by the mid 1920’s it was estimated that membership in this newly born Ku Klux Klan was near 4 million nationwide. As I write this, an amalgamation of Lost Cause influenced Confederate supporters are planning for a “Save Stone Mountain” rally this Saturday (08/15/2020).
It’s hard to imagine if D.W. Griffith knew what kind of splash his adaptation of Thomas Dixon’s novel would make—but it a tsunami. An estimated 25 million viewers saw this film across the country. Special trains were ran from rural areas into cities just to it. The movie had received approval from President Woodrow Wilson, who had screened the movie at the White House as a favor to Griffith, an old school mate. The NAACP protested the showing of the film across the country, lead by William Monroe Trotter. The protests lead to violent clashes and arrests in Boston. The fruits of these protests were some the earliest marches by the NAACP. Ultimately the film would gross over $60 million dollars and establish film-making as a booming American industry.
In 1920 an African-American author and filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux, would release the film Within Our Gates, often considered his response to The Birth of a Nation. Micheaux never quite confirmed that, but the film is a more accurate portrayal of what real life was like during Reconstruction. It’s absolutely worth the watch, as are his other movies. Now, to the film review…
NOTE: Some of the images, title cards, vernacular and words used in this article are taken from the film directly and are meant for historical reference. Much of it is vulgar, inappropriate, and offensive. If I make jokes out of some of it, please know that it is not because I do not take this serious. The purpose of my reviews is for recording my thoughts on revisionism through Reconstruction, as I have been doing with my other articles. If I don’t crack a couple jokes at some of this — I think I’d lose it. The larger project at hand for me is documenting how these films, books, monuments, and more, changed how history has been perceived. Much of it having a negative impact on society. On that note I want to preface my review with an observation I hadn’t quite seen in this light before now:
During this film they specifically only reference people of color from the North as either Black or Mulatto. The slaves or “old faithful servants” in the South are referred to exclusively as Negroes, if their race is brought up at all. As I hope to lay out below, this is an important distinction the film makes; the Northern Black that is serving office, voting, and lobbying for equal rights — is out of his place and not qualified for the job. The old Southern Negro that is subservient, knows their place and is portrayed to be happy and has all their needs taken care for.
I’ve noticed coding before, but as I go farther and farther down this revisionist rabbit hole, I start to see where the seeds were planted. This is the stem of the ol’ “you know there are two types of them, right?” crap I grew up hearing in Georgia. I still hear that one. Believe it or not, I actually get some relief when I start to see where previous generations learned these things. Racism isn’t an inherent principle, it is taught. It can be unlearn and more importantly, correct principles can be taught moving forward. Now, that review…
dramatis personae
- The Stoneman Family. The Northern family based out of Washington D.C.
- Austin Stoneman; The head of the family and an abolitionist U.S Representative most certainly based on Thaddeus Stevens, the leader of the Radical Republican party on the 1860s and one of the most outspoken critics of slavery and supporter of enfranchisement for Blacks.
- Elsie Stoneman; Our leading lady and a future damsel. Noted in the film to be ignorant of her father’s radical plans. Her tender heart leads her to work as a nurse at a Washington hospital during the war, where she plays banjo for the soldiers.
- Various Stoneman Sons; I think there is a Phil and a Tod and maybe another one. At least one dies in the war if not all. The overall focus of this movie kind of shifts to the Southern family.
- The Stoneman’s Mulatto Servant: Their words. She is always spying on the political conversations, waiting to seize on the moment for her people to hatch whatever their grand supposed scheme is.
- The Cameron Family. Our faithful Southern family from the Piedmont Region of South Carolina. They are the embodiment of the Southern ideals that The Lost Cause calls for.
- Doctor Cameron; The Master of Cameron Hall. Doctorate unknown.
- Mrs. Cameron; The proud matron of Cameron Hall. First name unknown.
- Colonel Benjamin Cameron; AKA “The Little Colonel” The hero of the film and the eldest of the Cameron sons (I think).
- Two more Cameron Sons: I’m pretty sure BOTH of these die in the war. Leaving Lil’ Colonel with quite the sense of duty and honor.
- Margret Cameron; Eldest sister who is good at sewing. It’ll come up later…
- Flora Cameron; AKA the pet sister. The youngest sister with a sense of innocence too fragile to break.
- Mammy; “The Faithful Servant” Mammy has a strong and not-so subtle subplot in this film and of course I have some thoughts on it…
- Another Faithful Servant; This falls into the “Ole’ Uncle Wash” trope and plays second fiddle to Mammies story with the Cameron family.
- Puppies; a couple of adorable puppies on the porch of Cameron Hall, no doubt put there for a future callback…
- Silas Lynch; The Mulatto protégé of Stoneman who is made out to have maniacal plans of a would-be conquering king. He is said to be modeled off of Alonzo J. Ransier and Richard Howell Gleaves. Ransier was the first African-American Lt. Governor in South Carolina before going on to serve in the House and Gleaves also served as Lt. Governor of South Carolina. Put a pin in that.
- Gus, the renegade carpetbagger; Made to resemble a low-life type in the Freedman’s Bureau (carpetbaggers) that is clearly made out to be unqualified for his job, but keeps getting a pass anyhow. You have no doubt seen him if you’ve ever seen anything about this film.
- Abraham Lincoln; In the film, but not for long, I will say that actor has the look down pretty well.
- John Wilkes Booth; Appears in the movie for a shorter time than Lincoln, obviously.
- Charles Sumner; Senator from Massachusetts and abolitionist. Considered leader of the Radical Republican Party leading up to the Civil War and during Reconstruction (IRL).
- The Ku Klux Klan; The hooded heroes of the film, as they tell it. Born out of necessity to fight the flames from the horror and hardships caused by Radical Republican reign and nefarious negro negligence.
- Jesus Christ; Yes, Jesus Christ. I was very surprised too. Everything I knew of this film, that wasn’t one of them. More to come on that…
The film begins with introducing us to the two families—opposite in ideals, but united in kindred and pure spirit. The Stoneman family of Washington is lead by an abolitionist politician, fashioned after Thaddeus Stevens. The Cameron clan is an honorable and distinguished family from South Carolina’s Piedmont region. There is Doctor Cameron, the Master of Cameron Hall, Mrs. Cameron and their loyal sons and daughters — along with their faithful servants lead by everyone’s favorite Mammy. Also, a couple of adorable puppies on the plantation porch placed for future purpose.
Representative Stoneman sends his family South to visit with the Cameron clan. Only daughter Elsie stays behind. The Cameron’s give them a taste of Southern hospitality and show them what the true plantation life is like—not those stories the radicals tell up North. There is some classic courtship of course, between Phil Stoneman and Margret Cameron — while Ben Cameron falls in love with a picture of Elsie — who again is back home.
Meanwhile back in Washington, Representative Stoneman is politicking with Senator Sumner as the Stoneman’s Mulatto servant listens in with devilish delight. This is the first seed planted of a nefarious plot of a Black uprising being the real reason behind abolition. A newspaper clipping reads “North carries election, The South will secede.” As war approaches, the visitors are called home. The chums bid farewell, but promising to meet again…
Off to war we go. The Stoneman brothers go off to their regiment, the Cameron’s to their own. There is a big ball in the Piedmont after the 1st Battle of Bull Run. It’s quite the extravagant scene and no doubt meant to draw up sentimentality. Dixieland plays the following day as the heroes march back off to war. They make a big to do about the Confederate flag. Now as the heroes go off to war it leave the Piedmont open to aggressors…
As the war rages on. Two of the Cameron brothers have already died in action, as well as a Stoneman. With only a couple of Chums left, that promise comes true…
As Ben “Lil’ Colonel” Cameron is about to deliver the death blow to a Yankee, he is distracted by the face of an old chum. It’s one of the Stoneman brothers! “I can’t kill him, he’s my chum!” would of been what Lil’ Colonel exclaimed would this of been a movie with spoken dialogue. But, while he was stopped in his tracks, Lil’ Colonel took a shot to the gut landing him in a hospital in enemy territory. While in the hospital fate would deal Lil’ Colonel an unexpected, but welcomed hand…
As the courtship blossoms—the war is coming to its fiery finale…
With the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, Mrs. Cameron sets out to Washington to get her son pardoned from the President…
And then that fated night at the theater, April 14th, 1864…
Thus concludes part 1 of 2 on The Birth of a Nation. And concluded what was the biggest surprise thus far in my viewing of the film. A drastic change in the Lost Cause narrative: Love for Lincoln. This film shows Lincoln to be sympathetic to the South and makes the Stoneman character and Senator Sumner to be the agitators. The Lost Cause by Pollard—that is the doctrine for all the revisionism of the South—places a large amount of wartime blame on Lincoln’s shoulders. As did the Daughters of the Confederacy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (they would ramp the Lincoln disdain up again a bit a few years after this). From the pardon of Lil’ Colonel, to the way he carries himself throughout the film—it is portrayed with respect, not the disdain that was generally displayed in the Southern media of the Lost Cause. I think the purpose for this was obvious. It was 1915 and the movie needed to reach a wider audience. The traditional Southern Lincoln slander would not play in Northern or Western cities across America. After all, the hype of this movie was largely in part to President Woodrow Wilson screening it at The White House. I’m putting a pin in this one as a significant course change in Lost Cause-Redeemer Revisionism. I’ll admit that I haven’t read Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman that is the basis of this movie, but I have read much of the other literature of Lost Cause rhetoric and this is a drastic change in course.
Now on to part two: Reconstruction. The emphatically important part of the story for Griffith and Dixon. Part one had romanticized the Old South—while planting some seeds of the coming hostilities of aspiring Blacks, should they be given equal rights. Also, they painted a picture of smoothing over the hostilities between Northern and Southern Whites to unite them in one common goal…
After the assassination of President Lincoln, Radical Representative Stoneman has now become the most powerful man in the country. After conferring with Senator Sumner, Representative Stoneman sets out to make his Mulatto protégé, Silas Lynch, the face of equality and the man to bring about reconstruction to the South. He dispatches Lynch to the South to aid the carpetbaggers in organizing and aiding in the Negro vote…
Lynch comes to the South and aids the carpetbaggers, the Union League and the scalawags in winning the elections. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves…
Meanwhile Mammy runs into troubles with the “uppity” servants that The Stoneman’s brought down from the North…
Back over in the halls of South Carolina’s Congress…
The next part of the film is maybe the most disturbing to me. And the Klan is still yet to come. Being someone who is entrenched in studying the Reconstruction period of American history and having honest desires of pursing an academic career in that area of study — this is perhaps the most grossly exaggerated portrayal in the film. It’s certainly in the running for the most racist depiction in the movie. So, before I get into it, I want to give some historical information about the South Carolina Reconstruction-era government.
Out of 124 delegates in the 1868 convention of South Carolina, 73 of them were Black or of mixed ancestry. All of those were Republicans. They wrote a local constitution founded on women’s rights, public education and racial equality. They championed for extended voting rights to all men; something that the Lost Cause narrative plays heavy handed into as a negative — and still echos loudly today. Despite what is reported by Southern Whites of the time, these Black Representatives where educated and distinguished men. Robert Smalls was one of them. If you don’t know who he is, do yourself a favor and look him up — he’s quite the badass. Smalls escaped from slavery, stole a Confederate ship, then went back and saved his family — while sailing the ship through enemy waters to freedom. Then he went on to serve in the U.S. House and Senate. Tragically, the Ku Klux Klan would terrorize and murder these men to get them out of office. South Carolina was probably the worst area for Klan violence and it makes sense as to why it would be the central location chosen to rewrite this history. I’ve put some links in the references at the bottom for more information about Robert Smalls and the representatives from South Carolina.
Oh! I forgot to mention this earlier, but there are plenty of Black actors in this movie. More than I was expecting for the era. Griffith just uses Black-face to over exaggerate stereotypes. Grotesquely so. Much to the style of minstrel shows of the day. I will just let the pictures do most of the taking for this part.
Now that the Negroes have control of the house the sinister plan can be hatched. Silas Lynch is appointed Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. While walking down the street he picks up and kicks a dog (presumably one of those Cameron puppies) for no reason. Told you those puppies would be important.
Now his Freedman’s Bureau has free reign over the region, some of them not at all qualified for the job…
After multiple “outrages” with these carpetbaggers, Ben “Little Colonel” Cameron goes off in search of an answer on how he can restore honor and order to his beloved Southland…
That is verifiable text from President Woodrow Wilson’s set of books he wrote on American History. While he did mention the Klan’s violence being unfortunate, his own record on race relations as President left much to be desired. He made interracial marriage a felony in D.C., segregated the military, and also kept his offices segregated as to “ease the friction.” He also worked hard to silence outspoken Black scholars and activists of the time like, Monroe Trotter, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey. Also, after screening this film at the White House, Wilson declared that it was like “writing history with lighting.” Fire and blood, too.
I’ll just let the stills and my captions tell the rest of this story…
After the lovers go on a honeymoon and order and honor has been restored to the South, we get a surprise visit at the very end of the file — not unlike a Marvel movie tag teasing the return of a hero…
… Jesus appears on screen right as the credits are about to roll. I was shocked, honestly. I can’t recall ever hearing or seeing anything about Jesus Christ being in this film. If I did it was glossed over. The Reconstruction-era Klan did not incorporate Christianity, they had quite a flare for the occult. However, the Klan that spawned out of this movie was heavily based in Christianity — making it a requirement for membership. They would be anti-catholic for the first few decades of the twentieth century, being exclusively White protestant.
Phew! That was tough to get through, but I’m still glad I did so. Overall I give the film 4 out of 10 burning-crosses (don’t ask how I come up with that score, I don’t know). Given that it started the movie industry and there really is some great cinematic shots in this film — ones that I chose not to include in the stills above — it has it’s place in cinematic achievement. However, the legacy of this film is that it helped rebirth and recruit for the Ku Klux Klan, Wizard Simmons openly bragged about that. Membership was in the multi-millions in the 1920’s —the country being well entrenched into Jim Crow segregation by this point. The power of film and television cannot be understated. This was the Lost Cause agenda brought to the masses, shown in a groundbreaking way, that has left a lasting impact on this nation. By tweaking the narrative to show love for Lincoln, they made it much more palatable for Northern Whites to accept the Reconstruction atrocities of the KKK. The film down played the finger pointing between the Whites of who was to blame for the war, and placed it on the Radical Abolitionists and Mulatto’s. The Klan used all these things to recruit based on the growing antisemitism and anti-catholic movement in the North, playing into the national pride in these men — getting them to accept the proverbial rug that race issues are swept under in the South. The rug that hopefully we are pulling up for the last time now. That’s part of why I do these, the bodies are still being found under these rugs — they just started an excavation dig in Tulsa last month.
I’ve said about all I can say on this for now. I appreciate y’all taking the time on this and please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback. Also, please take the time to checkout some of the links below. Love to all y’all!
-James C. Marshall, August 12, 2020
References:
- Wade, Wyn Craig. 1987. The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Simon and Schuster. ISBN: 9780671414764.
- Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. 2010. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. ISBN: 9780544225824.
- Reconstruction: America After The Civil War. Created by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Dyllan MCGee. A joint production of INKWELL FILMS and McGEE MEDIA. PBS. 2019. Episode 4.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank
- https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/reconstruction/
- https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/which-slave-sailed-himself-to-freedom/
- https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1871-jefferson-f-long-speech-disorders-south/
- https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/wilson-and-race-relations/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_F._Long
- https://schumanities.org/news/south-carolinas-reconstruction-restoration-revolution-reaction/
Thoughts on Healing Hearts 