1915 film of the same name. Isnt that a great start . Why the birth of a nation and what is it . Is considered the first blockbuster film. The story i want to tell is not only the making and release of the film in 1915 but the controversy that it provoked. It is mainly a story about a civil rights leader from a boston by the name of William Monroe trotter, a radical newspaper editor as well who was at the forefront of extensive protest action against this bill about civil war and reconstruction which is entirely races in his per trail of black america. If it were to come out today what would happen . I hope it would not get censored but i hope there will be lots of protest drawing attention to the racism at the heart of the story and in griffiths hands. We are going to do a minute am a want to show the opening of this if people have not seen it in what it looks like. It is three hours. Lets watch. [video clip] the first minute, what did we just the . We showed griffith, the first thing
February when was the date . February 17, 1915, a showing at the white house with Woodrow Wilson. Explain how it happened. The filmmakers, griffith being the director, but also the author of the book, the clansman, written by a man named tom dixon. Wilson and dixon went way back they knew each other. Dixon said lets get this movie screened in the white house. He pulled it off and thats what happened. In the east room of the white house, the first ever screening. Who was in the crowd . His family, some of his cabinet members, other highranking washington figures. As i read in your book, a former chief justice . A former chief justice and it went so well that night that very quickly put together a second screening for the Supreme Court of the United States and congressional leaders. Again, terrific sense of marketing and getting these powerbrokers behind the movie as being an awesome piece of filmmaking. You have to remember when you go back to 1915, the film industry, is in its infancy.
Starts off this way no redblooded american would favor censoring works of art. While reading dick lehrs book you may find yourself rooting for that with a clampdown of the 1915 film of the same name. Isnt that a great start . Why the birth of a nation and what is it . Its considered the first blockbuster film. The story i want to tell is not only the making and release of the film in 1915 but the controversy that it provoked. It is mainly a story about a civil rights leader from a boston by the name of William Monroe trotter, a radical newspaper editor as well who was at the forefront of extensive protest action against this bill film about civil war and reconstruction which is entirely racist portrayal of black america. If it were to come out today, what would happen . I hope it would not get censored but i hope there will be lots of protest drawing attention to the racism at the heart of the story and in griffiths hands. We are going to do a minute want to show the opening of this if
Arrested and a glass door has been shattered as tensions rise outside of the uc regents meeting going on right now. Ktvus brian flores joins us live from San Francisco to explain what protesters are so upset about. Good afternoon, brian. Reporter hi, tori. Good afternoon to you. Yeah, that one person was a student from berkeley. Students are very upset over this proposed tuition increase. We take it back out we are live weve been live all morning long. We continue to be here live. And students say they will stay here until their voices and point gets across. As we mentioned, there was some pushing and shoving between students and police this morning. Only about 80 speakers were allowed inside the building. But when a group of students tried to enter through the back entrance, a group was able to break through the barricade and a glass door shattered. One male student from berkeley was arrested. Thousands of student are upset over this proposed 5 proposed increase. Some students pleaded
This week on q a, our guest is dick lehr, author of the birth of a nation, how a legendary fille maker and crusading editor reignited americas civil war. Dick lehr, author of the birth of a nation in a recent Washington Post review, the gentleman that wrote it Dennis Drabelle starts out this way no red blooded american today would favor sensoring works of art, but while reading dick lehrs new book the birth of a nation, you may find yourself rooting for just that in the form of a clamp down on the landmark 1915 teen film of the same name. Boy, isnt that a great start to a review. Not bad to use the word fascinating fascinating. Why birth of a nation. Well birth of a nation by d. W. Griffith is considered americas first blockbuster film and i want to tell the making and releasing of the film in 1915 and the controversy that is provoked. And it is mainly a story about a civil rights leader a forgotten kriefl rights civil rights leader named William Trotter at the forefront of protest act