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Birth Of A Nation Controversy

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During the early 1900s there was much controversy over a film called The Birth of a Nation directed by D.W. Griffith. This film release in 1915, which started a public uproar in most African American communities due to its prominent (easily seen) display of racism. Protestors of this film tried again and again to find a way to get this film censored, but it never happened. Because of the time period in which this film was made, not many people were for the idea of censoring the film. The writers and producers of this film possessed no moral obligation to avoid using racial stereotypes. They did not have a fair representation of minorities for the time era they were attempting to portray. People claimed in this time period that since they are in a democracy this film would go under the category of freedom of expression and that censoring is unjustifiable. This statement confirms how a democracy can make people think they can say what they want. Censoring The Birth of a Nation …show more content…

It gave the wrong representation of African Americans which changed peoples view on them. The image they used to display African Americans in this film was completely inaccurate. They wouldn’t even use real black actors they would use white actors and overdo the darkness of their faces and dress them poor. The depiction of blacks changed peoples view on them which started the reawakening of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). According to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6689 (KKK rally, Washington DC, 1925) “...forty thousand members of the Klan march down Pennsylvania Avenue on August 8, 1925. Organized to counter reports of faltering enrollment, this “konklave“ succeeded in attracting national attention but marked the peak of Klan power in the 1920s.” This was what the “Birth of a Nation” caused, KKK power, which caused black murders such as lynching. It is clear that not censoring this film was not worth

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This affected many of their lives outside of the battlefield in a drastic way. If this information about the New York City draft riots had been included in the movie I feel it would have added depth to knowing not only were the lives of African-Americans on the battlefield rough but their lives at home may have been definitively

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Although, the movie showed that some people are still living in the era where different races should not be treated equally which is very unethical.

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For instance, the 1915 film "The Birth of a Nation," which had a significant influence on Civil War films in later decades, portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as a noble and heroic organization, effectively rewriting history to show white southerners as the victims of Reconstruction rather than the perpetrators of oppression and violence. The Ku Klux Klan was praised in the movie as a vital force for maintaining law and order and defending white supremacy, while African Americans were portrayed as lazy, dangerous, and shiftless. The movie successfully reshaped history by making white southerners Reconstruction's victims rather than the oppressors and violent offenders. One could argue that, in terms of different interpretations, Civil War films from the 1950s and 1960s "went South" as opposed to "went West." This viewpoint highlights how important southern identity and experience are in many of these movies.

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For example, sanitation workers had to carry bags of garbage that had holes in them and since they were paid low wages, they ended up poor on welfare. Not only was this film was a way of seeing another turning point during the civil rights movement but also, African Americans fighting for justice. Even though I was not born during that time, I can understand how they felt because it wasn’t that easy. In today’s society racism isn’t as bad as what it was during that time. Besides we still have times were we face racism in our lives so I would say in some areas racism is still a

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906 Words | 4 Pages

Many African American authors and critics very strongly disagreed with how the white plantation owners and the slaves were portrayed in the book. For example Nat Turner’s first slave owner, Samuel Turner, was presented in very high light. This was probably not the case, and that is the reason it enraged so many readers. The book was also banned in some places because of the sexual violence that was portrayed in the novel. Before I get into the book itself it is important to know about the actual person who was Nat Turner and the rebellion that he led in 1831.

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A dominate view in the film is discrimination against black people in the community and in sports. There has always been discrimination in sports, as state in an article, “Jackie Robinson led the entire nation in rushing yards per attempt, averaging a staggering 12 yards per carry. At the close of his UCLA career in 1941, Robinson participated in the annual All-Star Game, which pitted the nation’s best college players against the NFL’s strongest team.” Jackie Robinson the first African American to play in Major League Baseball was also a strong a player of football. He played in the All-Star Game and went against profession team and still was able to hold his own, but the NFL also had its racial law and didn’t allow him to player and his name was never called in the draft list.

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Over-all I liked the film because I can recall those news stories, back then (the sit-ins, protests and marches)they seemed something to joke about and secretively against the black people. Again, after watching Chisholm’72, and the efforts of Shirley; alongside, her colorful reprehensive minority Dream, I say, whew, more power

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Although the movie does seem to want to get a point across about racism being relevant even in mainly black neighborhoods, it mostly furthers society’s institutionalized racist thoughts towards the black

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Overall, the film was historically accurate in the accomplishments and segregation, but the time frame for each achievement and setting was inaccurate and used to dramatize the

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This movie did a great job of showing how certain society’s work, races such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Persians/Asians were being treated wrong in the movie, and it displays the sociological concepts.

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Towards the beginning of this movie, many blacks were looking at the white men with hatred for raping and nearly killing a ten year old black girl. The men transformed the innocent little girl’s life forever. The men were instantly

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What I mean is a African American may view this film as a means to diminish their culture, a white person may believe this film makes them look evil and a police officer may believe this film makes officers look like they are above the law or feel like they should be above the law. These differences can cause conflict when

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The African Americans were targeted and vulnerable due to the color of their skin. This is unfairness. In the movie, not only were the men treated unequally but also Nurse Evers was. She was used by the government to help conduct the experiment due to the color of her skin. They knew that she would be able to easily mislead these men into believing they were going to receive good health although the complete opposite occurred.

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In conclusion, I believe the movie shined the light directly on the problems that the south faced. This movie wanted to show others, “Ok, blacks have freedom, but now what?”. Although it was people in the north who felt like the freedom of blacks have been granted so that’s it, let them deal with their own problems, it just still was not enough to the blacks who dealt with this oppression for years and years to come and years to follow

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It showed a different side of the American Dream, to be united as one unit and country, despise the color of your skin. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, the way people talk about blacks, shows how harshly people treated the idea of them being treated the same. It made some people extremely upset by the idea of blacks being treated poorly. For example, “For some reason Dill had started crying and couldn’t stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony. ”(Lee, 265).

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