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139-647: In 1907, civil rights activist and journalist William Monroe Trotter resigned from the Niagara Movement race organization because of disagreements with W. E. B. Du Bois and Clemont G. Morgan , state secretary of the Niagara Movement's Massachusetts branch. Trotter supported a more militant or direct approach to the civil rights movement, disagreeing with Du Bois's pacifist approach, acceptance of segregation, and willingness to support industrial education for Blacks over securing their right to vote. Without Trotter,

278-688: A Jamaican immigrant in New York City and leader of the UNIA . Through these years, Trotter routinely wrote in the Guardian about incidents of racial injustice, including the 1931 trials of the Scottsboro boys . They had been accused and were convicted of raping two white women in Alabama. Historians have concluded they were innocent. On the morning of April 7, 1934, his 62nd birthday, William Monroe Trotter died after

417-703: A temperance organization; he was a teetotaler and never drank alcohol. He was active in the Baptist church , in which he had considered becoming a minister. Following his graduation, Trotter participated in the upper echelons of Negro society in Boston, a number of whose members had ancestors free before the Civil War. He belonged to an exclusive literary society that met at the home of Cambridge educator Maria Baldwin . On June 27, 1899, Trotter married Geraldine Louise ("Deenie") Pindell (October 3, 1872 – October 8, 1918), who

556-461: A "human problem" from which politics should be left out, and suggested to Trotter's group that they could always vote for someone else in the next election. Trotter continued to argue that the segregationist policy was humiliating to African Americans. Wilson responded, "If you take it as a humiliation, which it is not intended as, and sow the seed of that impression all over the country, why the consequences will be very serious." After Trotter said this

695-416: A Booker T. Washington type of colored man", and Northern papers also criticized him for his "insolence" to the president. The Boston Evening Transcript , while observing that Wilson's policy was segregationist and divisive, pointed out that although Trotter was basically correct, he "offends many of his own color by his ... untactful belligerency". African Americans were divided in their response to

834-503: A Nation "follows The Clansman [the play] nearly scene by scene." While some sources also credit The Leopard's Spots as source material, Russell Merritt attributes this to "the original 1915 playbills and program for Birth which, eager to flaunt the film's literary pedigree, cited both The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots as sources." According to Karen Crowe, "[t]here is not a single event, word, character, or circumstance taken from The Leopard's Spots .... Any likenesses between

973-457: A Nation , adapted from The Clansman , would be opening in Boston. He rushed back to lead protests against the film. In April, the Tremont Theatre denied Trotter and a group of African Americans tickets to the showing. When they refused to leave the lobby, plainclothes police moved in, sparking a scuffle. Trotter and ten others were arrested; other protests took place both inside and outside

1112-681: A North Carolina friend, Josephus Daniels , Secretary of the Navy . Daniels set up a meeting that morning for Dixon with Edward Douglass White , Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . Initially Justice White was not interested in seeing the film, but when Dixon told him it was the "true story" of Reconstruction and the Klan's role in "saving the South", White, recalling his youth in Louisiana, jumped to attention and said: "I

1251-735: A Nut-shell; Some Un-colored Truths for Colored Voters , and The Case Against Taft and Roosevelt from the Standpoint of the Colored Voters . NIPL decided to support William Howard Taft over Theodore Roosevelt for the Republican nomination for president during its 1911 national convention. However, Clifford preferred Roosevelt who created the Progressive Party after the 1912 Republican National Convention. In July 1912, NIPL split into two groups which claimed to be official—one led by Clifford and

1390-724: A Republic the Ballot is the Citizen's Most Powerful Weapon" and "A United People is a Powerful People". In 1908, the NIPL published Jim-Crow Car Laws and the Republican Party . A race conference was held in New York in May 1909 that included both Black and White speakers. One outcome of the conference was a forty-person committee to form a new race organization. Trotter was not one of the twelve Blacks selected for

1529-401: A battle sequence. In addition, several scenes were cut at the insistence of New York Mayor John Purroy Mitchel due to their highly racist content before its release in New York City including a female abolitionist activist recoiling from the body odor of a black boy, black men seizing white women on the streets of Piedmont, and deportations of blacks with the title "Lincoln's Solution". It

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1668-557: A bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church , called at the White House "to add their protests," President Wilson's private secretary, Joseph Tumulty , showed them a letter he had written to Thacher on Wilson's behalf. According to the letter, Wilson had been "entirely unaware of the character of the play [movie] before it was presented and has at no time expressed his approbation of it. Its exhibition at

1807-564: A bitter tinge to the disagreement. In this period, while the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South to the North was beginning, blacks in the two regions dealt with different conditions. The vast majority of the millions of African Americans still lived in the South, many in rural areas where they were the majority population. But they were effectively disfranchised by new electoral rules and state constitutions, utterly closed out of

1946-509: A carefully staged battle sequence with hundreds of extras (another first) made to look like thousands. It came with a 13-page Souvenir Program . It was the first motion picture to be screened inside the White House , viewed there by President Woodrow Wilson , his family, and members of his cabinet. The film was controversial even before its release and it has remained so ever since; it has been called "the most controversial film ever made in

2085-419: A common practice of the time to direct African Americans away from higher education opportunities and into industrial training programs.) Trotter's business was relatively successful, and he was able to purchase investment properties. Trotter was increasingly troubled by what he saw as the accommodationist policies of Booker T. Washington , one of the leading African-American figures of the 1890s and founder of

2224-435: A fall from the roof of his home in Boston. The cause is uncertain, but it is known that he was depressed and troubled at the time. He may have committed suicide . He was buried in Boston's Fairview Cemetery . The Birth of a Nation The Birth of a Nation , originally called The Clansman , is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish . The screenplay

2363-401: A fellow graduate student in history with Wilson at The Johns Hopkins University and, in 1913, dedicated his historical novel about Lincoln, The Southerner , to "our first Southern-born president since Lincoln, my friend and collegemate Woodrow Wilson." The evidence that Wilson knew "the character of the play" in advance of seeing it is circumstantial but very strong: "Given Dixon's career and

2502-617: A job as a cook on the SS Yarmouth to gain passage to France. He arrived in Paris alone and with little more than his cook's clothing, only to find that the principal peace negotiations had already taken place. The powers did not include any statement of racial equality. Trotter attracted the French press in his accounts of racial mistreatment in the United States, but he could not gain access to any of

2641-402: A job in a white-owned real estate firm in 1898, but decided the next year to open his own business selling insurance and brokering mortgages . He was not particularly active in agitating for civil rights in these years, although his strong opinions on racial equality were evident in an 1899 paper in which he called on African Americans to seek admission to institutions of higher learning. (It was

2780-414: A letter sent on May 1, 1915, to Joseph P. Tumulty, Wilson's secretary, Dixon wrote: "The real purpose of my film was to revolutionize Northern sentiments by a presentation of history that would transform every man in the audience into a good Democrat... Every man who comes out of the theater is a Southern partisan for life!" In a letter to President Wilson sent on September 5, 1915, Dixon boasted: "This play

2919-498: A longtime supporter and Movement member, over Massachusetts politics and control of the local Movement chapter. Du Bois sided with Morgan and, when the Movement met in Boston in 1907, he reappointed Morgan to a leading position in the organization. Attempts to heal the rift failed, and Trotter resigned from the Movement. Because of these difficulties, the organization had effectively collapsed by 1908. The break between Trotter and Du Bois

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3058-451: A meeting with Wilson at the White House in November 1913. Wilson said that his policies were not segregationist, but Trotter characterized Wilson's denial as "preposterous". Trotter continued his protests, eventually gaining a second invitation to the White House in November 1914. This meeting with Wilson ended with a heated exchange between the two men. Wilson claimed to be dealing with

3197-533: A result of such activities, Trotter's printer dropped the activist and his newspaper as a client. But Trotter found another printer and continued publishing the Guardian despite the setback. In the early months of 1905, Booker T. Washington sought to create an umbrella organization to represent all the major African-American leaders of the day. Du Bois and Grimké were the two most radical leaders invited to its early organizational meetings, but both eventually refused to ally with Washington, whom they saw as dominating

3336-530: A variety of tactics. He took various legal actions against Trotter, including at least one libel suit and criminal charges. In addition, he used his network to apply pressure to Trotter's supporters in their workplaces (in some cases government and academic positions). In addition, he had other sympathizers secretly infiltrate and report on activist meetings organized by Trotter and others. Washington also provided financial support and expertise to start other publications in Boston to counter Trotter's radical voice. As

3475-453: Is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr. 's 1905 novel and play The Clansman . Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the film with Harry Aitken . The Birth of a Nation is a landmark of film history, lauded for its technical virtuosity. It was the first non-serial American 12- reel film ever made. Its plot, part fiction and part history, chronicles the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and

3614-435: Is happy when Lynch tells him he wants to marry a white woman, but he is then angered when Lynch says that it is Elsie he wishes to marry. Elsie breaks a window and cries out for help, getting the attention of undercover Klansman spies. The Klan gathered together, with Ben leading them, ride in to gain control of the town. When news about Elsie reaches Ben, he and others go to her rescue. Lynch is captured while his militia attacks

3753-464: Is mentioned as well. The three title cards with quotations from Wilson's book read: "Adventurers swarmed out of the North, as much the enemies of one race as of the other, to cozen, beguile and use the negroes... [Ellipsis in the original.] In the villages the negroes were the office holders, men who knew none of the uses of authority, except its insolences." "... The policy of the congressional leaders wrought…a veritable overthrow of civilization in

3892-436: Is told that he will be hanged. Working there as a nurse is Elsie Stoneman whose picture he has been carrying. Elsie takes Cameron's mother who had traveled there to tend her son and to see Abraham Lincoln . Mrs. Cameron persuades him to pardon Ben. When Lincoln is assassinated , his conciliatory postwar policy expires with him. In the wake of Lincoln's death, Elsie's father and other Radical Republicans are determined to punish

4031-521: Is transforming the entire population of the North and the West into sympathetic Southern voters. There will never be an issue of your segregation policy". Dixon was alluding to the fact that Wilson, upon becoming president in 1913, had allowed cabinet members to impose segregation on federal workplaces in Washington, D.C. by reducing the number of black employees through demotion or dismissal. One famous part of

4170-417: The Guardian was "carrying its cases too fast and too far", and that Trotter suffered from a "mental malady". The Guardian had limited circulation, but was highly influential as one of only 200 African-American publications in the country. It suffered financially due to Trotter's poor accounting and inattention due to his heavy schedule. Forbes, who principally worked as a librarian in the city library, left

4309-611: The Ku Klux Klan . As a result, Elsie breaks up with him. While going off alone into the woods to fetch water, Flora Cameron is followed by Gus, a freedman and soldier who is now a captain. He tells Flora he desires to marry her. Uninterested, she rejects him, but Gus keeps insisting. Frightened, she flees into the forest, pursued by Gus. Trapped on a precipice, Flora warns Gus she will jump if he comes any closer. When he does, she leaps to her death. While looking for Flora, Ben sees her jump and holds her as she dies. He then carries her body to

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4448-653: The National Film Registry . Phil, the elder son of the Stonemans (a Northern family), falls in love with Margaret Cameron (the daughter of a Southern family), during a visit to the Cameron estate in South Carolina . There, Margaret's brother Ben idolizes a picture of Elsie Stoneman, Phil's sister. When the Civil War arrives, the young men of both families enlist in their respective armies. The younger Stoneman and two of

4587-589: The Treaty of Versailles , which Lodge opposed on grounds other than Trotter's. Lodge's opposition was successful: the Senate never ratified the treaty. Trotter mounted a campaign against Thomas Dixon 's play The Clansman when it opened in Boston in 1910; the play portrayed the Ku Klux Klan in heroic terms during Reconstruction. His protests succeeded in closing the production. While on his speaking tour in early 1915, he learned that D. W. Griffith 's movie, The Birth of

4726-584: The Tuskegee Institute . Washington's policies were enshrined in the Atlanta Compromise , outlined in an 1895 speech he gave in Atlanta, Georgia . He said that Southern African Americans should not agitate for political rights (such as the right to vote and equal treatment under the law) as long as they were provided economic opportunities and basic rights of due process . Washington actively promoted

4865-556: The upcoming presidential election . (Trotter opposed Taft because he had tired of what he considered the Republican Party laissez-faire policies on race.) This conference led to the formation of the Negro American Political League , which eventually became known as the National Independent Political League (NIPL) and National Equal Rights League (NERL). Trotter described this group as "of

5004-673: The 1900s and 1910s, he also revealed some of the differences within the African-American community. He contributed to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Trotter was born into a well-to-do family and raised in Hyde Park, Massachusetts . J. M. Trotter a Recorder of Deeds and Virginia Trotter were his parents. He earned his graduate and post-graduate degrees at Harvard University , and

5143-565: The 1920s and 1930s, Trotter subsided into a genteel poverty, using the Guardian as an ongoing voice of protest. He lobbied for anti- lynching bills in Congress, with limited success. Even when the House overwhelmingly passed such a bill in 1922, the Southern bloc in the Senate filibustered and effectively killed passage of the bill for three years running. (White Democrats effectively controlled nearly all

5282-580: The African Americans in the film were portrayed by white actors in blackface. Griffith initially claimed this was deliberate, stating "on careful weighing of every detail concerned, the decision was to have no black blood among the principals; it was only in the legislative scene that Negroes were used, and then only as 'extra people'." However black extras who had been housed in segregated quarters, including Griffith's acquaintance and frequent collaborator Madame Sul-Te-Wan , can be seen in many other shots of

5421-638: The Boston Literary and Historical Association, which became, according to biographer Stephen Fox, "a forum for militant race opinion". He also joined the Massachusetts Racial Protective Association, another local group that promoted political goals of equality. Under the aegis of the latter group, Trotter in October 1901 gave his first major protest speech, attacking Washington's accommodationist stance: "In Boston [Washington] said that

5560-625: The Boston chapter, which he told NAACP leader Joel Spingarn needed more "radical, courageous activity." He eventually drifted away from the NAACP. After Trotter split from the Niagara Movement, he helped organize a conference of like-minded activists held in Philadelphia in April 1908, and served as the conference chair. In this capacity, he excluded any attendees whose racial ideology he opposed, as well as those who supported Republican William Howard Taft in

5699-569: The Cameron brothers are killed in combat. Meanwhile, a black militia attacks the Cameron home and is routed by Confederate soldiers who save the Cameron women. Leading the final charge at the Siege of Petersburg , Ben Cameron earns the nickname of "the Little Colonel," but is also wounded and captured. He is then taken to a Union military hospital in Washington, D.C. During his stay at the hospital, he

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5838-511: The Cameron home. In response, the Klan hunts down Gus, tries him, finds him guilty, and lynches him. After discovering Gus's murder, Lynch orders a crackdown on the Klan. He also secures the passing of legislation allowing mixed-race marriages . Dr. Cameron is arrested for possessing Ben's Klan regalia , now considered a capital crime . He is rescued by Phil Stoneman and a few of his black servants. Together with Margaret Cameron, they flee. When their wagon breaks down, they make their way through

5977-442: The Civil War, and had studied his methods. He was a regular correspondent with Garrison's sons William Jr. and Francis Garrison. The Guardian was always unprofitable, a condition that was exacerbated by Trotter's refusal to take advertising for alcohol and tobacco. He sold off all of his Boston-area properties by 1910 to raise funds for the newspaper, and he was lax in collecting payments from his subscribers. In his later years,

6116-467: The Congressional seats apportioned to the total population of the South, after having disfranchised blacks. ) They controlled chairmanships of numerous important committees, which were established by seniority. In 1923 Trotter eventually came to an uneasy truce with the NAACP. His attempts to promote his style of activism, however, were eclipsed by activities of younger leaders, such as Marcus Garvey ,

6255-580: The Isaacs farm of Virginia's parents, where their son William Monroe Trotter was born on April 7, 1872. When he was seven months old, the family moved back to Boston, where they settled in the South End , far from the predominantly African-American west side of Beacon Hill . The family later moved to suburban Hyde Park , a white neighborhood. The Trotters had two more children, both daughters. Trotter's father broke through many racial obstacles placed before him, but

6394-581: The NAACP attracted more money and talent, and became the center of anti-Bookerite civil rights activity, Trotter and the NIPL became increasingly marginalized on the left. Trotter would not have as prominent a role in the civil rights dialogue again. By 1921 the league had been reduced to a handful of Trotter supporters. Trotter's opposition to Booker T. Washington placed him at odds with Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, Republican presidents who relied on Washington as an adviser and otherwise enjoyed widespread African-American support. Trotter supported

6533-405: The NAACP both held rallies in Boston to mark the centennial of abolitionist Charles Sumner 's birth. Trotter was peripherally involved with the NAACP for a few years, but he did not approve of the amount of white involvement in the interracial group. His feud with Du Bois ran deep, so he rarely contributed to the organization at the national level. He was also troubled by the attitudes expressed in

6672-416: The NAACP. In 1914, he had a highly publicized meeting with President Woodrow Wilson , in which he protested Wilson's introduction of segregation into the federal workplace. In Boston, Trotter succeeded in shutting down productions of The Clansman in 1910, but he was unsuccessful in 1915 with screenings of the movie The Birth of a Nation , which also portrayed the Ku Klux Klan in favorable terms. He

6811-535: The NIPL a wider audience but did not attract more members to the organization. The group held its seventh annual convention from September 7 through 9, 1914 in New York City. NIPL changed its name to the National Independent Equal Rights League (NIERL) to minimize the stigma of having supported Wilson. When The Birth of a Nation was released in 1915, NIERL mobilized the Black community to protest

6950-533: The Negro should wait for the franchise until he had got property, education and character. Washington's attitude has ever been one of servility." With George W. Forbes , another Protective Association member, in 1901 Trotter co-founded the Guardian , a weekly newspaper. At first Forbes, an Amherst College graduate with some experience in publishing, was the driving operational force in its production, while Trotter funded

7089-647: The Niagara Movement went defunct. In 1908, Trotter met with Bishop Alexander Walters and Rev. J. Milton Waldron of Washington D.C. to establish The National Negro American Political League , called the National Independent Political League (NIPL) by 1910. The group officially organized in Chicago in June 1908. Trotter served as its spokesperson and secretary; Waldron, who was strongly against Booker T. Washington , became its president. Officers listed on

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7228-631: The President." Trotter continued to protest segregationist policies of the Wilson administration. When the country began large-scale recruiting for the military in World War I , Trotter opposed the establishment of segregated officer training facilities. Through his influence, recruitment of blacks in the Boston area was lower than expected. During World War II , the military integrated the officer corps, and President Harry Truman afterward completed integration of

7367-774: The Second Baptist Lyceum on January 25 and Jesse Lawson did the same on February 3. In 1999, Jacqueline M. Moore argued that Thompson's paper failed to hold his ground against Ferris, who was present at the talk. His long-term objective was to effect policy changes in the National Afro-American Council , then the only national-level organization of African Americans. At the group's annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky , Trotter and others introduced resolutions calling for more activism, but Booker T. Washington supporters (also known as "Bookerites"), who controlled

7506-512: The South. Stoneman and his protégé Silas Lynch, a psychopathic mulatto , head to South Carolina to observe the implementation of Reconstruction policies. During the election, in which Lynch is elected lieutenant governor , black people stuff the ballot boxes while many white people are denied the vote . The newly elected members of the South Carolina legislature are mostly black. Inspired by observing white children pretending to be ghosts to scare black children, Ben fights back by forming

7645-425: The South... in their determination to 'put the white South under the heel of the black South.'" [Ellipses and underscore in the original.] "The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation... until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the southern country." [Ellipsis in the original.] In the same book, Wilson has harsh words about

7784-487: The Southern Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 election . Wilson, in a brief meeting with Trotter and other NERL members, made vague statements about fair treatment of African Americans. But, he succumbed to pressure from Southerners in his cabinet and agreed to segregate federal offices. The NAACP and NERL (then known as the National Independent Political League, or NIPL) protested, and Trotter secured

7923-587: The United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history." The film has been denounced for its racist depiction of African Americans . The film portrays its black characters (many of whom are played by white actors in blackface ) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive toward white women. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is portrayed as a heroic force, necessary to preserve American values, protect white women, and maintain white supremacy . Popular among white audiences nationwide upon its release,

8062-579: The United States. When he returned to the United States, Trotter was well-received and spoke to large audiences in New York and Washington, D.C. By 1921, the league dissolved, having been outpaced by the NAACP which had more money and the support of powerful whites. Historian Mark Schneider notes that NIPL "foreshadowed the militant organizations of the 1950s and 1960s that bypassed the NAACP." William Monroe Trotter William Monroe Trotter , sometimes just Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934),

8201-635: The West Coast. Outside of original compositions, Breil adapted classical music for use in the film, including passages from Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber , Leichte Kavallerie by Franz von Suppé , Symphony No. 6 by Ludwig van Beethoven , and " Ride of the Valkyries " by Richard Wagner , the latter used as a leitmotif during the ride of the KKK. Breil also arranged several traditional and popular tunes that would have been recognizable to audiences at

8340-496: The White House was a courtesy extended to an old acquaintance." Dixon, in his autobiography, quotes Wilson as saying, when Dixon proposed showing the movie at the White House, that "I am pleased to be able to do this little thing for you, because a long time ago you took a day out of your busy life to do something for me." What Dixon had done for Wilson was to suggest him for an honorary degree, which Wilson received, from Dixon's alma mater , Wake Forest College . Dixon had been

8479-432: The abyss between the original goals of the Klan and that into which it evolved. Dixon has been accused of misquoting Wilson. In 1937, a popular magazine reported that Wilson said of the film, "It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." Wilson over the years had several times used the metaphor of illuminating history as if by lightning and he may well have said it at

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8618-520: The armed services. When the Great War ended, Trotter sought to use the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as a vehicle to raise international awareness of US government policy toward African Americans. He viewed the reality of segregation as incompatible with Wilson's war vision to "make the world safe for Democracy." Trotter organized a meeting in Washington, DC related to the peace conference; he and ten other African-American delegates were chosen to attend

8757-414: The audience that the dramatic version of The Clansman appeared in that venue nine years previously. "Mr. Dixon also observed that he would have allowed none but the son of a Confederate soldier to direct the film version of The Clansman ." The film's backers understood that the film needed a massive publicity campaign if they were to cover the immense cost of producing it. A major part of this campaign

8896-403: The business in 1904 because of Booker T. Washington's legal assaults on the newspaper and pressure by Washington supporters on his employers. Trotter's wife, and later his sister, assisted in the paper's publication. The Guardian was bitter, satirical, and personal; but it was earnest, and it published facts. It attracted wide attention among colored people; it circulated among them all over

9035-450: The century, African Americans in the South had been effectively disfranchised by violence around elections, and restrictions in voting registration rules, and, finally, constitutional amendments or new constitutions in Southern states. Although Boston was comparatively congenial when compared to other parts of the country, Trotter and others felt that Washington's stance was leading to an increase in more typically Southern racist attitudes in

9174-537: The city. "The conviction grew upon me", he wrote, that his business successes could be endangered "if race prejudice and persecution and public discrimination from mere color was to spread up from the South and result in a fixed caste of color". My vocation has been to wage a crusade against lynching, disenfranchisement, peonage, public segregation, injustice, denial of service in public places for color, in war time and peace. —William Monroe Trotter Trotter's racial activism blossomed in 1901. He helped found

9313-439: The colored people and for the colored people and led by the colored people." NIPL, which biographer Fox describes as Trotter's "personal fief", was unable to attract high-profile membership as the NAACP did. Trotter did not want white members, and was unable to work effectively with other African-American leaders. NIPL and the NAACP, while both working toward similar goals, regularly feuded over matters public and personal. As

9452-615: The committee that established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) in 1910. However, NIPL differed from the NAACP because its leaders and funders were all Black. Furthermore, Trotter was suspicious of the White backers of the NAACP. NIPL held a convention in Columbus in May 1909 and in Atlantic City in 1910. Walters was elected NIPL president in 1910. At

9591-409: The council, saw to their defeat. One commentator wrote that the "Boston idiots" had been treated "in delightful fashion". The Guardian described the convention as "dominated to death by one man". The activities of the radicals at the convention did bring them some national press. Trotter continued to criticize Washington in the Guardian ; his attacks were particularly harsh and personal, and brought

9730-439: The country; it was quoted and discussed. I did not wholly agree with the Guardian , and indeed only a few Negroes did, but nearly all read it and were influenced by it. —W. E. B. Du Bois Trotter, in a deliberate move, transferred the Guardian 's offices in 1907 to the same building that had once housed William Lloyd Garrison 's Liberator . Trotter idolized Garrison, a leading abolitionist agitator before

9869-553: The effort and served as its managing editor. The paper became a forum for a more outspoken and forceful approach to gaining racial equality, and its contributors and editorials (which were generally written by Trotter) regularly attacked Washington. The paper's editorial stance brought a stream of criticism from more mainstream African-American publications: the New York Age , calling it "putrescent", wrote that "Editor Trotter ... makes himself smelt if not felt"; another wrote that

10008-512: The elder Trotter was a leading African-American Democrat in New England. He supported Grover Cleveland for President , and was rewarded in 1886 when Cleveland appointed him Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia , the highest federal position filled by black men at the time. Two other prominent men of color of that era, Frederick Douglass and Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce , also held

10147-414: The film and The Leopard's Spots occur because some similar scenes, circumstances, and characters appear in both books." Griffith agreed to pay Thomas Dixon $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 304,186 in 2023) for the rights to his play The Clansman . Since he ran out of money and could afford only $ 2,500 of the original option, Griffith offered Dixon 25 percent interest in the picture. Dixon reluctantly agreed, and

10286-640: The film are missing footage from the standard version of the film. Evidence exists that the film originally included scenes of white slave traders seizing blacks from West Africa and detaining them aboard a slave ship , Southern congressmen in the House of Representatives , Northerners reacting to the results of the 1860 presidential election , the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment , a Union League meeting, depictions of martial law in South Carolina, and

10425-453: The film for an invited audience in New York in early 1915, when the title was still The Clansmen . Struck by the power of the film, he told Griffith that The Clansmen was not an appropriate title, and suggested that it be changed to The Birth of a Nation . The title was changed before the March 2 New York opening. However, the title was used in the press as early as January 2, 1915, while it

10564-513: The film industry and American culture. Adjusted for inflation , the film remains one of the highest-grossing films ever made. It has been acknowledged as an inspiration for the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan , which took place only a few months after its release. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in

10703-429: The film was added by Griffith only on the second run of the film and is missing from most online versions of the film (presumably taken from first run prints). These are the second and third of three opening title cards that defend the film. The added titles read: A PLEA FOR THE ART OF THE MOTION PICTURE: We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as

10842-436: The film's success was both a consequence of and a contributor to racial segregation throughout the U.S. In response to the film's depictions of black people and Civil War history, African Americans across the U.S. organized and protested. In Boston and other localities, black leaders and the NAACP spearheaded an unsuccessful campaign to have it banned on the basis that it inflamed racial tensions and could incite violence. It

10981-423: The film, Breil wrote numerous leitmotifs to accompany the appearance of specific characters. The principal love theme that was created for the romance between Elsie Stoneman and Ben Cameron was published as "The Perfect Song" and is regarded as the first marketed "theme song" from a film; it was later used as the theme song for the popular radio and television sitcom Amos 'n' Andy . The first public showing of

11120-561: The film, Breil's score was not used for the February 8, 1915, Los Angeles première of the film at Clune's Auditorium ; rather, a score compiled by Carli Elinor was performed in its stead, and this score was used exclusively in West Coast showings. Breil's score was not used until the film debuted in New York at the Liberty Theatre , but it was the score featured in all showings save those on

11259-527: The film, then called The Clansman , was on January 1 and 2, 1915, at the Loring Opera House in Riverside, California . The second night, it was sold out and people were turned away. It was shown on February 8, 1915, to an audience of 3,000 people at Clune's Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles . At the New York premiere, Dixon spoke on stage when the interlude started halfway through the film, reminding

11398-516: The film, which glorified the Ku Klux Klan . In Boston, around 500 Blacks protested outside of the Tremont Theater on April 17, with some throwing eggs at the movie screen. In 1919, Trotter went uninvited to the 1919 Peace Conference in Paris to represent the NIERL on behalf of Black interests. When this effort was unsuccessful, he wrote articles for the French press about the conditions of Blacks in

11537-436: The film. Griffith's budget started at US$ 40,000 (equivalent to $ 1,200,000 in 2023 ) but rose to over $ 100,000 (equivalent to $ 3,010,000 in 2023 ). By the time he finished filming, Griffith had shot approximately 150,000 feet of footage (approximately 36 hours of film), which he edited down to 13,000 feet (just over 3 hours). The film was edited after early screenings in reaction to audience reception, and existing prints of

11676-749: The film. Much of the filming was done on the Griffith Ranch in San Fernando Valley , with the Petersburg scenes being shot at what is today Forest Lawn Memorial Park and other scenes being shot in Whittier and Ojai Valley . The film's war scenes were influenced by Robert Underwood Johnson 's book Battles and Leaders of the Civil War , Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War , The Soldier in Our Civil War , and Mathew Brady 's photography. Many of

11815-543: The films scriptwriter, showed his work to Griffith, who was inspired to create his own film adaptation of the novel, titled The Birth of a Nation . Many of the fictional characters in the film are based on real historical figures. Abolitionist U.S. Representative Austin Stoneman is based on the Reconstruction -era Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. Ben Cameron is modeled after Leroy McAfee . Silas Lynch

11954-507: The first meeting, the group was optimistic, but Trotter's disillusionment with Wilson showed at the November 12, 1914 meeting in the Oval Office . Trotter spoke boldly on the matter, angering Wilson who felt as if his integrity was being challenged. Later, Trotter discussed the confidential meeting with the media, noting that Wilson's policies went against a desegregated system that had worked well for fifty years. This publicity gave Trotter and

12093-473: The group's letterhead in 1908 were: The founding members of NIPL came from the National Afro-American Council , the Constitutional League, and the Niagara Movement. NIPL activities included "opposition to disfranchisement, peonage, Jim Crow cars, and support for equal education, national legislation against lynching, and the restoration of the discharged Brownsville soldiers." Its slogans included, "In

12232-650: The group. Du Bois, Trotter, and two others organized a meeting of radicals from across the nation in western New York. Meeting in July just across the Canada–US border in Fort Erie, Ontario they founded the Niagara Movement . Organized so that no one man could dominate it, the group espoused a radical declaration of principles (authored by Trotter and Du Bois), calling for agitation for equal economic opportunity and exercise of full civil rights for African Americans. The organization

12371-641: The hut where the Camerons are hiding. However, the Klansmen, with Ben at their head, save them. The next election day, blacks find a line of mounted and armed Klansmen just outside their homes and are intimidated into not voting. Margaret Cameron marries Phil Stoneman and Elsie Stoneman marries Ben Cameron. In 1911, the Kinemacolor Company of America produced a lost film in Kinemacolor titled The Clansman . It

12510-408: The idea that African Americans, once they had proven themselves as productive members of society, would be granted full political rights. Trotter, Grimké, W. E. B. Du Bois , and other northern radicals disagreed with these ideas, arguing that it was necessary for African Americans to agitate for equal treatment and full constitutional rights, because doing so would bring other benefits. By the turn of

12649-413: The incident: some claimed that he did not represent them, while others, notably Du Bois, grudgingly admired Trotter's audacity. Du Bois wrote that Wilson was "insulting & condescending" in the meeting. Trotter parlayed the publicity into a series of speaking engagements, in which he denied "that in language, manner, tone, in any respect or to the slightest degree I was impudent, insolent, or insulting to

12788-517: The lynchings of black men which did not reflect Griffith's interests. Griffith began filming on July 4, 1914 and was finished by October 1914. Some filming took place in Big Bear Lake, California . Griffith took over the Hollywood studio of Kinemacolor. West Point engineers provided technical advice on the American Civil War battle scenes providing Griffith with the artillery used in

12927-615: The meeting; defended by Archibald Grimké , Trotter was convicted and spent thirty days in the Charles Street Jail . Although the Bookerites had hoped to discredit the radicals with the trial, they gained them wider publicity. After the trial, Trotter founded the Boston Suffrage League (1903), and when a New England Suffrage League was founded in 1904, Trotter was elected president. Washington countered Trotter's attacks with

13066-454: The movie encouraged hatred against them, and he wanted the endorsement of as many powerful men as possible to offset such criticism. Dixon always vehemently denied having anti-black prejudices—despite the way his books promoted white supremacy—and stated: "My books are hard reading for a Negro, and yet the Negroes, in denouncing them, are unwittingly denouncing one of their greatest friends". In

13205-591: The national convention in Boston in August 1911, J. R. Clifford of West Virginia was elected NIPL president. A goal of the 1911 convention was to plan for the 1912 presidential election. Speakers for the event included Edward Everett Brown , Byron Gunner , Albert E. Pillsbury , and Frank Sanborn , along with S. L. Carrothers, J. Milton Waldron, and Walters. However, the 1911 convention was poorly attended. In 1912, NIPL published Fifty Years of Physical Freedom and Political Bondage, 1862-1912 and The Political Situation in

13344-523: The notoriety attached to the play The Clansman , it is not unreasonable to assume that Wilson must have had some idea of at least the general tenor of the film." The movie was based on a best-selling novel and was preceded by a stage version (play) which was received with protests in several cities—in some cities it was prohibited—and received a great deal of news coverage. Wilson issued no protest when The Washington Evening Star , at that time Washington, D.C. 's "newspaper of record," reported in advance of

13483-513: The official delegations to the peace conference. He also missed Du Bois' Pan-African Congress, which was held in February 1919 while he was still seeking passage. Trotter returned to the United States in July 1919 to learn of ongoing race riots at major cities across the country. Postwar economic and social tensions had erupted, and blacks fought back against white violence in cities such as Chicago and Omaha . Trotter quickly supported active resistance to white-on-black violence, writing, "Unless

13622-465: The other led by Trotter. Although the group was fragmented, Trotter campaigned for Wilson, using the resources of his newspaper. Wilson won the election but almost immediately affirmed segregation as a policy for the federal government. In 1913, NIPL collected twenty thousand signatures on a petition that demanded the desegregation in federal offices; this was delivered to President Wilson. An NIPL delegation met with Wilson in 1913 and, again in 1914. After

13761-423: The peace conference. The State Department refused to issue passports to those delegates, or to African Americans planning to attend a Pan-African Congress that Du Bois was organizing to be held concurrently with the peace conference in Paris. Du Bois and other African Americans were supporting African colonies' desire for independence. To get to Europe, Trotter posed as a seaman seeking work in New York, and got

13900-464: The political process. This situation would continue, despite some temporarily effective court challenges, through the 1960s. Washington believed he had to help this population within the constraints of their environment. At the same time, he secretly funded legal challenges against the voter registration and electoral restrictions. Trotter and other radicals tended to come from the North, where African Americans exercised more rights in daily life, including

14039-640: The post. The job was a lucrative one, and the Trotter family prospered. The young Trotter (who was usually called by his middle name "Monroe") grew up in this environment, and was introduced to Archibald Grimké , another politically active African American who also lived in Hyde Park. He excelled in school, graduating from the otherwise all-white Hyde Park High School as valedictorian and president of his high school class. He went on to Harvard University , where he continued to distinguish himself academically. He

14178-457: The quality of the publication noticeably declined, and its operations were propped up by a local community group's fund-raising activities. In the early 1900s Trotter noticed that racial segregation was spreading in Boston: the number of hotels, restaurants, and other public establishments refusing service to African Americans was increasing. He came to realize that, in order to effect real change,

14317-521: The radical message needed to be taken out of Boston, and began organizing protest meetings across New England in 1903. At the suggestion of Trotter, William H. Ferris went to Washington D.C. in January 1903. Ferris gave a presentation critical to Booker T. Washington in front of the Bethel Literary and Historical Society on January 6, 1903. Richard W. Thompson spoke in support of Washington as replies at

14456-458: The relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras over the course of several years—the pro- Union ( Northern ) Stonemans and the pro- Confederacy ( Southern ) Camerons. It was originally shown in two parts separated by an intermission , and it was the first American-made film to have a musical score for an orchestra . It pioneered closeups and fadeouts , and it includes

14595-458: The showing, in language suggesting a press release from Dixon and Griffiths, that Dixon was "a schoolmate of President Wilson and is an intimate friend" and that Wilson's interest in it "is due to the great lesson of peace it teaches." Wilson, and only Wilson, is quoted by name in the movie for his observations on American history and the title of Wilson's book ( History of the American People )

14734-489: The showings to the president and the entire Supreme Court conferred an "honor" upon Birth of a Nation . Dixon and Griffith used this commercially. The following day, Griffith and Dixon transported the film to New York City for review by the National Board of Censorship . They presented the film as "endorsed" by the President and the cream of Washington society. The Board approved the film by 15 to 8. A warrant to close

14873-526: The suffrage, were more urbanized, and had achieved more in work and education, but were still subject to discrimination. Following their failure to advance the radical agenda in Louisville, Trotter and the other radicals sought a more sympathetic forum in which to attack Booker T. Washington. An opportunity arrived when Washington was set to speak in Boston in July 1903. When the Tuskegee Institute leader

15012-399: The theater in which the movie was to open was dismissed after a long-distance call to the White House confirmed that the film had been shown there. Justice White was very angry when advertising for the film stated that he approved it, and he threatened to denounce it publicly. Dixon, a racist and white supremacist, clearly was rattled and upset by criticism by African Americans that

15151-535: The theater. Trotter, united with other factions of the African-American community, tried but could not get the film banned in Boston. This united front, along with the death later in 1915 of Booker T. Washington, reduced for a time the internal hostilities in the Boston African-American community. The KKK had a revival for a decade after 1915, especially in industrial cities and the Midwest. In 1921, Trotter

15290-751: The time, including many Southern melodies; among these songs were " Maryland, My Maryland ", " Dixie ", " Old Folks at Home ," " The Star-Spangled Banner ," " America the Beautiful ," " The Battle Hymn of the Republic ," " Auld Lang Syne ," and " Where Did You Get That Hat? " DJ Spooky has called Breil's score, with its mix of Dixieland songs, classical music and "vernacular heartland music...an early, pivotal accomplishment in remix culture." He has also cited Breil's use of music by Wagner as influential on subsequent Hollywood films, including Star Wars (1977) and Apocalypse Now (1979). In his original compositions for

15429-501: The time. The accuracy of his saying it was "terribly true" is disputed by historians; there is no contemporary documentation of the remark. Vachel Lindsay , a popular poet of the time, is known to have referred to the film as "art by lightning flash." The next day, February 19, 1915, Griffith and Dixon held a showing of the film in the Raleigh Hotel ballroom, which they had hired for the occasion. Early that morning, Dixon called on

15568-506: The triumph of the first showing." There is dispute about Wilson's attitude toward the movie. A newspaper reported that he "received many letters protesting against his alleged action in Indorsing the pictures [ sic ]" including a letter from Massachusetts Congressman Thomas Chandler Thacher . The showing of the movie had caused "several near-riots". When former Assistant Attorney General William H. Lewis and A. Walters,

15707-440: The unprecedented success of the film made him rich. Dixon's proceeds were the largest sum any author had received [up to 2007] for a motion picture story and amounted to several million dollars. The American historian John Hope Franklin suggested that many aspects of the script for The Birth of a Nation appeared to reflect Dixon's concerns more than Griffith's, as Dixon had an obsession in his novels of describing in loving detail

15846-462: The white American behaves, he will find that in teaching our boys to fight for him he was starting something that he will not be able to stop." His writings prompted calls in Congress for the censorship of the Negro press: South Carolina Congressman James F. Byrnes accused Trotter of "doing his utmost to incite riots and bloodshed." Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge gave Trotter a chance to testify during Senate deliberations on ratification of

15985-437: The woods to a small hut that is home to two former Union soldiers who agree to hide them. Congressman Stoneman, Elsie's father, leaves to avoid being connected with Lynch's crackdown. Elsie, learning of Dr. Cameron's arrest, goes to Lynch to plead for his release. Lynch, who lusts after Elsie, tries to force her to marry him, which causes her to faint. Stoneman returns, causing Elsie to be placed in another room. At first Stoneman

16124-548: Was a Southerner , a fact that Dixon points out; Griffith's father served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army and, like Dixon, viewed Reconstruction negatively. Griffith believed that a passage from The Clansman where Klansmen ride "to the rescue of persecuted white Southerners" could be adapted into a great cinematic sequence. Griffith first announced his intent to adapt Dixon's play to Gish and Walthall after filming Home, Sweet Home in 1914. Birth of

16263-522: Was a free person of color . He purchased the freedom of Ann-Elizabeth Fossett, Virginia's mother. The family moved to Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio, where Virginia grew up in its thriving black community. There she met and married James Trotter. Shortly after the Civil War, the Trotters moved from Ohio to settle in Boston , Massachusetts. After their first two children died in infancy, they returned to

16402-541: Was a member of the Klan, sir". With White agreeing to see the film, the rest of the Supreme Court followed. In addition to the entire Supreme Court, in the audience were "many members of Congress and members of the diplomatic corps ", the Secretary of the Navy, 38 members of the Senate, and about 50 members of the House of Representatives. The audience of 600 "cheered and applauded throughout." In Griffith's words,

16541-462: Was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston , Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights , he was an early opponent of the accommodationist race policies of Booker T. Washington , and in 1901 founded the Boston Guardian , an independent African-American newspaper he used to express that opposition. Active in protest movements for civil rights throughout

16680-435: Was also denied release in the state of Ohio and the cities of Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. Griffith's indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce Intolerance the following year. In spite of its divisiveness, The Birth of a Nation was a massive commercial success across the nation—grossing far more than any previous motion picture—and it profoundly influenced both

16819-426: Was also long rumored, including by Griffith's biographer Seymour Stern, that the original film included a rape scene between Gus and Flora before her suicide, but in 1974 the cinematographer Karl Brown denied that such a scene had been filmed. Although The Birth of a Nation is commonly regarded as a landmark for its dramatic and visual innovations, its use of music was arguably no less revolutionary. Though film

16958-418: Was an insult, Wilson angrily ordered him to leave, saying "If this organization wishes to approach me again, it must choose another spokesman ... your tone, sir, offends me." Trotter's second meeting with the President was widely covered in the press, featured on the front page of The New York Times and other leading newspapers. A white Texas newspaper described Trotter as "merely a nigger " and "not

17097-490: Was awarded merit scholarships after his father died, and was the first man of color to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa key at Harvard. He earned a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in 1895 and a Masters in 1896, working a variety of odd jobs to help pay his tuition. During his years at Harvard, he adopted a number of habits which he maintained for much of his life. He organized and led the Total Abstinence League,

17236-539: Was born into slavery in Mississippi ; James' mother Letitia was enslaved, and his father was her white master Richard S. Trotter. Letitia, her son and two daughters were freed by their master after his marriage and sent to Cincinnati, Ohio , which had a thriving free black community. After working as a teacher, James Trotter enlisted in the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War , and

17375-514: Was filmed in the southern United States and directed by William F. Haddock . According to different sources, the ten-reel film was either completed by January 1912 or left uncompleted with a little more than a reel of footage. There are several speculated reasons why the film production failed including unresolved legal issues regarding the rights to the story, financial issues, problems with the Kinemacolor process, and poor direction. Frank E. Woods ,

17514-406: Was from another activist family. He had known her since childhood. She assisted him throughout his career until her death in the 1918 flu pandemic . The couple had no children. Trotter's career began inauspiciously. His initial attempts to get jobs at established banking and real estate firms were unsuccessful, leading him through a succession of lower-paying clerking jobs. He finally landed

17653-418: Was introduced to a visibly hostile crowd, a small riot broke out. Trotter, who had arrived prepared with several provocative questions to ask Washington, attempted to read them over the din of the melee. He was among the arrested, and the "Boston riot" received national press coverage. Trotter later claimed that there was no plan to break up the meeting. Bookerites pressed charges against Trotter for disrupting

17792-473: Was laid. Although some of Trotter's proposals were accepted (to address segregated transportation as a grievance), others were not (such as his proposal for a bill to make lynching a federal crime). Trotter was not invited to be on the organization's executive committee; neither was Booker T. Washington , who boycotted the effort. Trotter never played a significant role in the NAACP, and in its early years actively competed with it. In 1911 Trotter's group and

17931-413: Was modeled after Alonzo J. Ransier and Richard Howell Gleaves . After the failure of the Kinemacolor project, in which Dixon was willing to invest his own money, he began visiting other studios to see if they were interested. In late 1913, Dixon met the film producer Harry Aitken , who was interested in making a film out of The Clansman . Through Aitken, Dixon met Griffith. Like Dixon, Griffith

18070-456: Was not able to influence the peace talks at the end of World War I , and was in later years a marginalized voice of protest. In 1921, in an alliance with Roman Catholics , he got a revival screening of The Birth of a Nation banned. He died on his 62nd birthday after a possibly suicidal fall from his Boston home. William was the third child, and first to survive infancy, of James Monroe Trotter and Virginia (Isaacs) Trotter. His father James

18209-574: Was often frustrated in his attempts to gain equal treatment or fair consideration. While serving in the Union Army, he protested the inequality of pay between blacks and whites. In Boston he was the first man of color to be employed by the Post Office Department (now the U.S. Postal Service ), a job he left after he was repeatedly passed over for promotion because of discriminatory Republican -led federal government policy. Politically active,

18348-493: Was permanent, and they never worked directly together again. Du Bois wrote in 1909 that it was "utterly impossible to work with Mr. Trotter." Despite the Niagara Movement's failure, its goals had appealed to white supporters of racial equality. They participated in the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which drew an inter-racial coalition of support. Trotter and Du Bois were both present at meetings in 1909 in which its foundation

18487-476: Was soon divided internally by political and personal disagreements, and Washington worked from outside against its growth. During the early months of 1906, friction began to develop between Du Bois and Trotter over the admission of women to the organization. Du Bois supported the idea, and Trotter opposed it, but eventually relented. The matter was smoothed over during the 1906 meeting. Their division became more significant when Trotter split with Clement Morgan ,

18626-549: Was still referred to as The Clansman in October. The Birth of a Nation was the first movie shown in the White House , in the East Room , on February 18, 1915. (An earlier movie, the Italian Cabiria (1914), was shown on the lawn.) It was attended by President Woodrow Wilson , members of his family, and members of his Cabinet . Both Dixon and Griffith were present. As put by Dixon, not an impartial source, "it repeated

18765-530: Was still silent at the time, it was common practice to distribute musical cue sheets , or less commonly, full scores (usually for organ or piano accompaniment) along with each print of a film. For The Birth of a Nation , composer Joseph Carl Breil created a three-hour-long musical score that combined all three types of music in use at the time: adaptations of existing works by classical composers, new arrangements of well-known melodies, and original composed music. Though it had been specifically composed for

18904-425: Was successful in shutting down new screenings of The Birth of a Nation in Boston; he allied with Roman Catholic organizations, who objected to the KKK's anti-Catholic stance of the 20th century, and were strong in the city as a result of extensive Irish and Italian immigration. Trotter's wife had died in the 1918 influenza pandemic . She had been a partner in all his activities and he missed her greatly. Through

19043-519: Was the first man of color to be promoted to lieutenant in the 55th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Colored) . Virginia Isaacs, also of mixed race, was born free in 1842 in either Ohio or Virginia . Her mother Ann-Elizabeth Fossett was born into slavery at Monticello , where she was a daughter of Joseph Fossett and Edith Hern Fossett , and great granddaughter of Elizabeth Hemings . Virginia's father Tucker Isaacs

19182-569: Was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key there. Seeing an increase in segregation in northern facilities, he began to engage in a life of activism, to which he devoted his assets. He joined with W. E. B. Du Bois in founding the Niagara Movement in 1905, a forerunner of the NAACP. Trotter's style was often divisive, and he ended up leaving that organization for the National Equal Rights League . His protest activities were sometimes seen to be at cross purposes to those of

19321-406: Was the release of the film in a roadshow theatrical release . This allowed Griffith to charge premium prices for tickets , sell souvenirs, and build excitement around the film before giving it a wide release . For several months, Griffith's team traveled to various cities to show the film for one or two nights before moving on. This strategy was immensely successful. Dixon had seen a screening of

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