On the Complicated Legacy of "The Birth of a Nation"
Today is the anniversary of the world premiere of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 mixed-up masterpiece The Birth of a Nation. This film a complicated bit of baggage to unpack. Look at that poster; it depicts the movie’s hero, a Ku Klux Klansman, for God’s sake! Griffith’s treatment of African Americans in the film isn’t just thoughtless or ignorant; […]