Thomas allen harris through a lens darkly is a book that examines how africanamericans are per trade in portrayed in photography, and it is also an autobiography, because my family is descendent of slavery. Brian lamb what is the story of you and your father . Thomas allen harris my father and mother divorced maybe when i was six or seven, and my father never took any photographs of my family my brother me, and both my brother and i are image makers, and my grandfather took thousands of photographs of a family. When i was making film, i was thinking about the way of framing and taking a picture of a family and what that says about both the person in front of the camera, the person behind the camera, and the connection between the two yeah, and a certain amount of grief because i never got to see myself and my family through my fathers lens . Brian lamb still alive . Thomas allen harris yes, my father is still alive. Brian lamb do you have a relationship with him today . Thomas allen ha
Youre watching American History tv on cspan3. This week epd, were marking the 100th anniversary of the release of the film the birth of a nation. The film was screened at the white house on february 8th 1915 with president woodrow wilson. The author of the book dick lehr the birth of a nation. Up next well show you the full 3 12 of
There you have it in its entirety which premiered 100 years ago by filmmaker dw griffith. We are going to open our phone lines as part of our reel america series. Joining us is hari jones, the curator of the African American some order civil war memorial and museum. Joining us is the author of birth of a nation. Thank you for being with us. Our phone lines are open. 20270 just how consequence are consequential was this film . In terms of film history, it was hugely consequential. It is a foundational moment in american film history. It was a breakout moment. Until then, films were 10 minutes or less. The incredibly ambitious dw griffith wanted to tell a big story in a big way and he produced this epic film employing all sorts of innovative techniques people had not seen before. This was literally americas first blockbuster film. This one sentence in your book that summarizes this film. You called it a masterpiece. You called it bigoted and slanted and set it was a dramatic flashpoint i
This week on q a, our guest is dick lehr, author of the birth of a nation, how a legendary fille maker and crusading editor reignited americas civil war. Dick lehr, author of the birth of a nation in a recent Washington Post review, the gentleman that wrote it Dennis Drabelle starts out this way no red blooded american today would favor sensoring works of art, but while reading dick lehrs new book the birth of a nation, you may find yourself rooting for just that in the form of a clamp down on the landmark 1915 teen film of the same name. Boy, isnt that a great start to a review. Not bad to use the word fascinating fascinating. Why birth of a nation. Well birth of a nation by d. W. Griffith is considered americas first blockbuster film and i want to tell the making and releasing of the film in 1915 and the controversy that is provoked. And it is mainly a story about a civil rights leader a forgotten kriefl rights civil rights leader named William Trotter at the forefront of protest act
Come up here, stayed too long, promised too much and ultimately become part of the problem that they were sent here to fix. People are looking for a different type of representative. And i think that thats something that we all are striving to be and see as a tremendous opportunity. You know out there you know, there is tremendous frustration. I caught the tail end of congressman jordans comments. And i very much found the same thing to be true in the fourth cession nal district of texas that im privileged to represent. I dont have this opportunity because people have fallen back in love with the republicans. And you know out there in my district people feel like the Republican Party has been focused too much on the top 1 , that theres been too much corporate cone nichl, corporate welfare and corporate bailouts. But theyre also convinced that the democrats are focused too much on the bottom 3 , folks that are getting by on entitlements that dont really need them. And what they really f