The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. Adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.’s 1905 novel and stage play The Clansman, the film blends fictional narrative with events drawn from the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the picture with Harry Aitken. Widely recognised as a technical milestone in early cinema, it was the first American feature-length film released in a 12-reel format and one of the earliest productions to integrate a full orchestral score.
Upon release it was presented in two parts separated by an intermission and accompanied by a souvenir programme. Its innovations included pioneering use of close-ups, fade transitions and large-scale action sequences assembled to convey thousands of participants. It was also the first motion picture screened at the White House, where President Woodrow Wilson viewed it with his family and cabinet.
Despite these cinematic achievements, the film has long been considered the most controversial work in American film history. It depicts African Americans in racist and demeaning ways, frequently using white actors in blackface, and portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force maintaining white supremacy. Its success helped to entrench segregationist attitudes and contributed to the revival of the Klan later in 1915. Protests emerged across the United States, with civil-rights leaders and the NAACP arguing that the film incited racial hostility. Several cities and states refused its exhibition, and Griffith’s experience of attempted censorship inspired his subsequent film Intolerance (1916). In spite of its divisiveness, The Birth of a Nation was a major commercial success and remains, when adjusted for inflation, among the highest-grossing films ever made. In 1992 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry for its historical and technical importance.

Plot

Part I: Civil War
The film centres on two families: the Northern, pro-Union Stonemans and the Southern, pro-Confederate Camerons. Phil Stoneman falls in love with Margaret Cameron during a visit to South Carolina. Meanwhile, Margaret’s brother Ben admires a photograph of Elsie Stoneman. When war breaks out, members of both families enlist. Two Cameron brothers and the younger Stoneman die in battle. A black militia attacks the Cameron home, only to be repelled by Confederate troops. At the Siege of Petersburg, Ben earns the nickname “The Little Colonel” but is severely wounded and captured.
Transferred to a Union hospital, Ben is tended by Elsie, whose picture he carries. Mrs Cameron travels to Washington, D.C., and persuades President Abraham Lincoln to pardon her son. Lincoln’s assassination, depicted in detail, marks the end of his moderate Reconstruction policy. Radical Republicans, led by Congressman Stoneman, resolve to impose harsh measures on the South.
Part II: Reconstruction
Stoneman travels to South Carolina with his protégé Silas Lynch, a mixed-race politician. Black voters, portrayed through racist caricature, elect Lynch lieutenant governor. Ben, inspired by seeing Southern children wearing makeshift “ghost” costumes, forms a vigilante organisation identified as the Ku Klux Klan. Elsie ends their relationship upon learning of his involvement.
A pivotal sequence follows Flora Cameron, who is harassed by Gus, a formerly enslaved soldier. Fleeing his advances, she leaps to her death. Ben presents her body to the family, prompting the Klan to capture and lynch Gus. Lynch responds by cracking down on the Klan and engineering legislation permitting interracial marriage. Dr Cameron is arrested for possessing Klan regalia, and the family hides with the help of two former Union soldiers.
Elsie seeks Lynch’s help, unaware of his intentions. He attempts to force her into marriage, prompting a Klan rescue. Simultaneously, Klan riders break the siege of the Camerons’ refuge. On the following election day black citizens are intimidated into not voting, securing victory for white supremacist candidates. The film concludes with the marriages of Margaret to Phil Stoneman and Elsie to Ben Cameron, accompanied by images promoting sectional reconciliation under white dominance.

Cast

• Lillian Gish as Elsie Stoneman
• Mae Marsh as Flora Cameron
• Henry B. Walthall as Colonel Ben Cameron
• Miriam Cooper as Margaret Cameron
• Mary Alden as Lydia Brown
• Ralph Lewis as Austin Stoneman
• George Siegmann as Silas Lynch
• Walter Long as Gus
• Joseph Henabery as Abraham Lincoln
• Elmer Clifton as Phil Stoneman
• Josephine Crowell as Mrs Cameron
• Spottiswoode Aitken as Dr Cameron
• Uncredited performers portray John Wilkes Booth, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and numerous other historical figures.

Production background

A precursor to Griffith’s film appeared in 1911 when the Kinemacolor Company of America attempted an adaptation of The Clansman, though the project was left incomplete or unreleased. Frank E. Woods, later Griffith’s co-writer, had drafted material for that film, and Griffith drew upon Woods’s work when preparing his own version. Many characters were modelled on historical individuals associated with abolitionism, Radical Reconstruction and post-war politics. Griffith’s narrative followed the then-dominant Dunning School interpretation of Reconstruction, which framed the period as an era of misrule requiring “redemption” by white Southerners.
The Birth of a Nation remains a complex artefact of early American cinema—technically groundbreaking yet ideologically harmful. Its legacy continues to prompt debate about racism, historical memory and the responsibilities of filmmakers in shaping public understanding.