The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation: Does the Portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan In this controversial 1915 film compare to documented history of the organization? D.W. Griffith was raised in South Carolina by his father who was an ex-confederate soldier. Griffith was raised to believe that father’s views on the superiority white race and the strength of the Confederacy were the natural and correct beliefs. And, when his father joined the Ku Klux Klan, …

…reunite the separated nation. If the Klan received news of such a conflict concerning Union soldiers, they would probably have taken no action and let the Unionist’s perish. “The Birth of a Nation” was a propaganda film attempting to make the Ku Klux Klan appear to be an upstanding organization whose only goals were to maintain the Confederacy. Many scenes in this film promoting this point are Hollywood fantasy rather than historically accurate portrayal.