A 1915 silent film by D.W. Griffith (adapted from the novel The Clansman) that dramatized southern life in the period of Reconstruction, depicted the Ku Klux Klan as valiant saviors of a post-war South ravaged by Northern carpetbaggers and immoral freed Blacks. The Birth of a Nation is credited with rekindling the Klan which had been suppressed by federal law enforcement. But the movie was used as a recruiting tool and after the film’s release, Klan-inspired white supremacist violence against Black men spread across the South. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) tried desperately to have the film banned, but it was to no avail.
