1915 film of the same name. Isnt that a great start . Why the birth of a nation and what is it . Is considered the first blockbuster film. The story i want to tell is not only the making and release of the film in 1915 but the controversy that it provoked. It is mainly a story about a civil rights leader from a boston by the name of William Monroe trotter, a radical newspaper editor as well who was at the forefront of extensive protest action against this bill about civil war and reconstruction which is entirely races in his per trail of black america. If it were to come out today what would happen . I hope it would not get censored but i hope there will be lots of protest drawing attention to the racism at the heart of the story and in griffiths hands. We are going to do a minute am a want to show the opening of this if people have not seen it in what it looks like. It is three hours. Lets watch. [video clip] the first minute, what did we just the . We showed griffith, the first thing
February when was the date . February 17, 1915, a showing at the white house with Woodrow Wilson. Explain how it happened. The filmmakers, griffith being the director, but also the author of the book, the clansman, written by a man named tom dixon. Wilson and dixon went way back they knew each other. Dixon said lets get this movie screened in the white house. He pulled it off and thats what happened. In the east room of the white house, the first ever screening. Who was in the crowd . His family, some of his cabinet members, other highranking washington figures. As i read in your book, a former chief justice . A former chief justice and it went so well that night that very quickly put together a second screening for the Supreme Court of the United States and congressional leaders. Again, terrific sense of marketing and getting these powerbrokers behind the movie as being an awesome piece of filmmaking. You have to remember when you go back to 1915, the film industry, is in its infancy.
Starts off this way no redblooded american would favor censoring works of art. While reading dick lehrs book you may find yourself rooting for that with a clampdown of the 1915 film of the same name. Isnt that a great start . Why the birth of a nation and what is it . Its considered the first blockbuster film. The story i want to tell is not only the making and release of the film in 1915 but the controversy that it provoked. It is mainly a story about a civil rights leader from a boston by the name of William Monroe trotter, a radical newspaper editor as well who was at the forefront of extensive protest action against this bill film about civil war and reconstruction which is entirely racist portrayal of black america. If it were to come out today, what would happen . I hope it would not get censored but i hope there will be lots of protest drawing attention to the racism at the heart of the story and in griffiths hands. We are going to do a minute want to show the opening of this if
Role in getting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed through the congress and the senate, which Lyndon Johnson signs on july 2 of 1964. We will look at that. That is where we will go from there. I will finish on one last note, and that has to do with africanamericans. There is a major anniversary coming up in two weeks and that anniversary is not on most peoples radar but it will be the 150th anniversary of congresss passage of the 13th amendment which ended slavery. That will happen saturday, december 31st. January. Im sorry january 31st. That will be coming up. In four years, slavery is obliterated from the United States in lincolns first term. If you saw the daniel daylewis movie of four years ago, that is really what that movie is about. It will take another hundred years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Any questions about anything . Well good. Well, thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it. [inaudible] know, and all the sources will tell you that. All
This week on q a, our guest is dick lehr, author of the birth of a nation how a legendary filmmaker and a crusading editor reignited americas civil war. Dick lehr, in a recent Washington Post review, the gentleman who wrote it, it starts off this way no redblooded american would favor censoring works of art. While reading dick lehrs book you may find yourself rooting for that with a clampdown of the 1915 film of the same name. Isnt that a great start . Why the birth of a nation and what is it . Its considered the first blockbuster film. The story i want to tell is not only the making and release of the film in 1915 but the controversy that it provoked. It is mainly a story about a civil rights leader from a boston by the name of William Monroe trotter, a radical newspaper editor as well who was at the forefront of extensive protest action against this bill film about civil war and reconstruction which is entirely racist in its portrayal of black america. If it were to come out today, w