The Birth of a Nation Theme of Race

A movie that's responsible for the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan is racist? What a shocker.

The Birth of a Nation is rooted in one belief: white people inherently deserve power over Black people—that's it. In order to back up this farcical idea, the movie performs all sorts of mental gymnastics, not by merely portraying black Americans in a negative light but also by blaming the dastardly North for the racial tension following the Civil War.

This is patently absurd and evil, of course, but it's worth studying in order to understand the perspective of the day.

1. How does your modern perception of race differ from that of the film?
2. What assumptions does Griffith make about the relationship between the races? How does he express these assumptions?
3. What does the character of Silas Young say about Griffith's views on race?
4. In what way does Griffith minimize the institution of slavery?

Through the character of Silas Young, Griffith is able to employ stereotypes of both black and white Northerners.

Griffith's understanding of race is rooted in the idea of white supremacy: the idea that white people inherently deserve power over black people.