“Birth of a Nation” is a 1919 silent film directed by D.W Griffith. It was praised for its innovative use of editing and camera work. It was nothing like the 20th century film industry had ever seen before. It takes place in South Carolina during the Civil War and then during Reconstruction. The lengthy storyline follows two families; one from the North, the Stoneman’s, and one from the South, the Cameron’s. This movie is very controversial because it is very racist toward Black people. It portrays them as aggressive, unintelligent, and unequal. Scenes of slaves were shown where they were “happy” to be working on a White man’s field, this was false propaganda. It also depicts the White supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan, as the ones who “save the day for helpless Whites” from a Black militia at the end of the film. Having people see them as heroes and saviors was dangerous, as this film contributed to the Ku Klux Klan actually being revived in real life in the 1920s.
This message is a sharp contrast from the writings of W.E.B DuBois. His 1897 essay, “Strivings of the Negro People”, discusses hardships and reality of what Black people in America at that period of time struggled with on a daily basis. He was writing with a hope that people would understand their trials and tribulations. He used emotional appeals to try to invoke any empathy from white people. The term “double-consciousness” was coined in this essay. He wrote about how black people have a hard time finding their sense of self, because they have more than one social identity. One was who society sees you as, and the other was who you really were. Although both the film and the essay both use emotional appeals (on opposite sides), I believe that “Birth of a Nation” was more effective in getting their appeals and message across, just because it was the most famous silent film ever, and it resulted in the KKK being revived, so people were obviously inspired somehow.
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