How To End Racism In David Wark Griffith's Birth Of A Nation

History teaches us how there has always been a battle between race. Throughout history, we can see how there has been many attempts to end racism, but that is something that we still continue to fight today. In the film, Birth of a Nation, David Wark Griffith illustrates how it used to be throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction Period. Throughout the film, it is noted how the Reconstruction period came after the Civil War which freed millions of slaves. Abraham Lincoln had planned to reconstruct the South Carolina, in where his plan was all based on forgiveness. Although the film wasn’t meant to portray how racism was a big part of history, it’s essential to talk about it was a big part of it throughout those times.

The film started with

The narrator has a African American mother and a white father. It is visible how the narrator is light-skinned enough to pass for a white man, but throughout the book, the author states how he grew up with emotional connections to his mother’s heritage and due to his struggles, he is unable to fully embrace the world. The narrator grows up with his mother, but his father provided for him and his mother. His mother was still hard working and taught him good and strong values. What really impacted me was how as a young kid, he didn’t know the difference between him and a white kid. He was unaware that he wasn’t white, “…the principal came into our room, and after talking to the teacher, for some reason said, “I wish all of the white scholars to stand for a moment.” I rose with the others. The teacher looked at me, and calling my name said, “You sit down down for the present, and rise with the others.” I did not quite understand her, and questioned, “Ma’m?” She repeated with a softer tone in her voice, “You sit down now, and rise with others”. I sat down dazed” (7). His mother never clarified his race because there was never a need to, until of course he went to school and his race mattered and made a difference. All his life so far he thought he was white due to his

He learns about not only the differences the “Negro” community face in comparison to other races, but the difference among their own community. Not every African American has the same background story, same practices, same cultures, etc. Through out chapter ten, the narrator meets a man of color, he becomes very interested in getting to know him so to took the first opportunity he had to talk to him. The conversation they had was regarding racial issues not only in the United States, but the race problems as it affected native Africans and Jews. The conversation with the man was so intense that they shared personal experiences; the man explained how he was born in slavery. He explained that although times still seem hard for people of color, things used to be a lot worse. That change is happening and will continue to happen. The narrator soon learned that the man of color was a physician, a graduate of Howard University, Washington, and had done his post-graduate work in Philadelphia (71). The man of color was an educated man, therefore the narrator understood why the man was acting the way he was throughout the ride to Boston. He observed how many White people looked at him differently and how as longest no one actually did anything to interrupt his peace, he was calm and ignored everyone else. In my opinion, the man wasn’t trying to prove the stereotypes right, he knew better, therefore