Based on the
racist novels of Thomas Dixon and considered one of the best films ever made, this D.W. Griffin
classic is also
infamous for its anti-Black sentiment and implied approval of
lynching and
Jim Crowism.
When it was released in 1915, it sparked numerous protest demonstrations from Black Americans who feared the general public's perception of Black Americans would be shaped by the celluloid medium. The NAACP stepped up their effort and some scenes from the film were cut but it still became a huge box office success.
The three hour film documents the fall of the South during the Civil War and white political domination over the interracial state governments of the Reconstruction era.