History of american cinema. So griffith was an unreconstructed racist, who had, to be kind, paternalistic attitude towards africanamericans. So birth of a nation, is the story of civil war and reconstruction, based on a novel by a man named thomas dixon called the klansmen. It tells the story of families that are torn asunder by the civil war, and the portrayal of southerners in the film is very very sympathetic, including the fact that the rescue at the end of the film was effected by the ku klux klan. So this is a film that is very difficult to watch out of context. People who see it today, people who come to it fresh without knowing the background, without knowing the era, find it a very difficult film to deal with. What it is, you know, it is, you know, part of our job to provide the context for the film. Im not excusing the inherent and grotesque racism of the film. You know, i can look at it as a social historian you can look at it one way. Its very much a piece of its time. But
D. C. , theres always something in bloom, always something to see, and hopefully always something to see that you havent seen before. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. To join the conversation like us on facebook cspan history. This is American History tv on cspan3. You can watch us every saturday and sunday and on holidays, too. We bring American History cspan style. Lincoln formally abolished slavery in the United States on august 15, 1855. Next David Rubinstein and others discuss lincolns legacy and the 13th amendment 150 years later. Its about an hour and a half. Ladies and gentlemen, its now my great pleasure to introduce my friend and coauthor and a great friend of the National Constitution center, David Rubinstein. David . Yes. Good round of applause at the beginning. [ applause ] david as i said, has generously loaned us not only this magnificent copy of the 13th amendment which i hadnt seen before now, and after the show, please dont com
I spend a couple chapters developing the story of trotters father and griffiths father, who fought on opposite sides of the civil war. Primary research, i came across a noah trudeaux, who assembled voices from the 55th, one of the allblack regiments from boston. I am not sure how he did it or where he found the letters. There were a dozen or more letters from trotters father, who fought in the 55th regiment from boston in the civil war. To read those letters, you are there. He brings you there. He brings you close, on the ground, in the field, and gives you as end sub the value of black soldiers, their courage, bravery. The father was at the forefront of protesting against unequal pay. It is all in his voice and it is all in the primary resource material. Our next call is from the boston area. Good afternoon. Hi. How are you . If you watch the birth of a nation dispassionately, the answer to the race problem then and now is a sexual problem. All i ask one to do is to watch it and then
And helmand. As far as advocacy for the corps there. Before they had the advisers to do this. Because we were going liftoff we wanted to make sure they had some kind of advocacy. We built a cell of four or five Coalition Members and some function that we thought they needed to continue to mature in our absence and put them up in kabul in september and they were foc in october before we left. Two interpreters were up there and all these individuals had served as advisers with the corps and the police. The leadership knew them. They knew the interpreters. So they would have a means of communication via cell phone, tactical means that was in proximity of headquarters and they were the advocate. Make sure the process was working. We knew at the tactical level they could fight bp we just need to make sure they could sustain themselves and resource themselves from kabul. So we built the cell and it those where the theater was. Where it went to right now. I think the one and four you see righ
In its entirety, the film the birth of a nation which premiered 100 years ago by filmmaker e w griffin. In the next 45 minutes we will open our phone lines. Part of the real america series. Joining us is hari jones. The curator of the africanamerican civil war memorial Freedom Foundation and museum. From boston is the author of the book, the birth of a nation how a legendary filmmaker and a crusading editor reignited americas civil war. David lehr. Thank you for being with us. The phone lines are open. 2027084901 for those in mountain and pacific time zones. Dick lehr, we will begin with you. In terms of history it is a foundational moment in american film history. A breakout moment. Until the threehour plus epic, films were much shorter. 10 minutes or less. The ambitious d. W. Griffith wanted to tell a big story in a big way. He employed all kinds of innovative film techniques that people had not seen before. This was americas first blockbuster. It summarizes this foam. You called it