“The Birth of a Nation” was one of the most controversial movies ever made, and when it premiered on February 8, 1915 it almost instantly became the greatest blockbuster of the silent movie era. It featured innovative new filmmaking techniques, a revolutionary score, and it was anchored by thrilling action scenes shot on a never-before-seen scale, with thousands of actors and extras, hundreds of horses, and battlefield effects like real cannons.
“Birth of a Nation” was unapologetically racist, promoting white supremacy and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan as the noble, heroic saviors of white America from the villainous clutches of evil black men bent on rape and destruction. Upon the film’s 50th anniversary in 1965, NAACP president Roy Wilkins proclaimed that all the progress that African Americans had made over the past half century couldn’t outweigh the damage done by “Birth of a Nation.”
When the film debuted in Boston in April of 1915, audience reaction was split along racial lines, with white Bostonians flocking to see the movie in record numbers, while black Bostonians organized protests and boycotts, with leaders like William Monroe Trotter attempting to have it banned in Boston.
“Birth of a Nation” in Boston
- Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against “The Birth of a Nation,” by the Boston chapter of the NAACP
- “‘The Birth of a Nation’ and the Making of the NAACP,” by Stephen Weinburger
- “The Reaction of the Negro to the Motion Picture ‘Birth of a Nation,'” by Thomas R Cripps
- An announcement that Birth of a Nation will be shown in Boston in 1915. A followup notice the following day, with a racist mammy cartoon in the next column.
- Breathless front page coverage of the “near riot” when African Americans protested the movie, testimony from the following trial, and more sober, reasonable coverage of the event from the NYT.
- The Boston protests make national news.
- A headline stating that the governor will seek a new law prohibiting movies that promote racial hatred, printed right next to a racist minstrel cartoon.
- A 1915 court will rule on the movie; Evening edition from the same day
- Having lost in court, the fight moves to the State House.
- William Monroe Trotter claims he was hit by a cop during the theater protest
- Boston’s Board of Censors votes to allow Birth of a Nation in 1915, inspiring smaller continuing protests.
- Background on William Monroe Trotter from the National Park Service
- Trotter leads a protest against Booker T Washington in 1903 and is sent to jail for it.
- William Monroe Trotter meets with President Wilson to protest segregation of the federal government
- Trotter testifies before Congress against the KKK.
- “‘Birth of a Nation,’ Propaganda as History,” by John Hope Franklin, including background on Thomas Dixon’s time in Boston.
- 1910 announcement that “The Clansman,” by Thomas Dixon is coming to Boston
- Protests by black Bostonians succeed in blocking “The Clansman.“
- A white newspaper in Virginia is dismissive of Boston’s fight against the play, while a black paper in Colorado is effusive in praising the successful protest.
- An ad for the “triumphant return” of Birth of a Nation to Boston in 1921, with a note about protests to the mayor the same day.
- The Shubert Theater loses its entertainment license when the Censorship Board prohibits it from playing Birth of a Nation in 1921.
- William Monroe Trotter dies in 1934 on his 62nd birthday.
- The William Monroe Trotter School in Grove Hall is founded as a magnet school
Boston Book Club
Our pick for the Boston Book Club this week is Household Gods: the Religious Life of the Adams Family, by Sara Georgini. Dr. Georgini is the series editor working on the Adams family papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. I may enjoy dabbling in the Adams diaries and letters, but she lives and breathes this stuff. She’s also a frequent contributor to Smithsonian magazine and the Society for US Intellectual History’s blog, and we know her as a delightfully thoughtful and informative voice on twitter as @sarageorgini.
Household Gods is her first book, and if I’m being honest, I haven’t read it yet. It came out less than two weeks ago, and our to-be-read pile is taller than some of our shorter friends at this point. But as an Adams fan, I’m excited to read it soon. It follows the evolution of religious belief and unbelief among nine generations of the Adams family across over three centuries, from Henry Adams, the first of the family to set foot in Puritan Massachusetts in the 1630s to a 20th century skeptic also named Henry Adams who counted the original Henry as his fifth great grandfather. Along the way, there is a loving focus on our two presidential Adamses and their immediate families.
Upcoming Event
I cheated this week, and used a book event for our book club pick as our upcoming event. Dr. Sara Georgini will speak at the Massachusetts Historical Society at 6pm on March 6. She’ll talk about her research into the Adams family and their views on religion. As the event description states, the family “ultimately developed a cosmopolitan Christianity that blended discovery and criticism, faith and doubt. Sara Georgini demonstrates how pivotal Christianity—as the different generations understood it—was in shaping the family’s decisions, great and small.”
There will be a reception at 5:30, and the talk begins at 6. Registration is required, and there is a $10 fee unless you’re an MHS member or an EBT cardholder.