How Is African Americans Portrayed In The Early 20th Century

The life changing, Birth of a Nation produced and filmed by D.W. Griffith, was released in February 1915. The critically acclaimed, nonracial motivated motion picture became the prominent example in film of how the Caucasians viewed the actions and positions of the African American people in the early 20th century. The movie portrayed African Americans with overly dramatic antebellum period stereotypical roles which consequently effected the relationships in America between Caucasian Americans and African Americans within the years following the broadcast of the film. Birth of a Nation installed antebellum period motivated stereotypes of African Americans during the early 20th century, which, not only inhibited possible successful relationships between the two communities, but also

These antebellum stereotypes became how people believed African Americans portrayed themselves in actual everyday life. Birth of a Nation created a personality for African Americans which most citizens happily believed and enjoyed viewing. Correspondingly, these stereotypes were used in many future movies, disregarding the struggles and triumphs of African Americans. As a result, African Americans were not typically pleased with the portrayals of their characters within Birth of a Nation. Moreover, this portrayal of stereotypical characters inhibited interracial relationships within America after the release of the film. Briley suggests, “Birth of a Nation was calculated to arouse hatred and predjustice between whites and the Negro races” (455). Although D.W. Griffith firmly believed his film did not shame the African American culture, Briley emphasizes, “The film director considered himself a progressive and did not believe the film slandered African Americans” (455). However, the view of African Americans and their culture was shifted dramatically by this