Birth of a Nation. |
But that was the general view of the times, north and south, ... He was not unusual in that view. The only thing was that he became exceptional with an exceptional movie that many people increasingly moving into human rights said 'this is too threatening ...' |
He's too close - he lived well into the 20th Century, ... If you look at Thomas Jefferson and presidents and Robert E. Lee and many other southerners ... They haven't been damaged. No one is going to purge Thomas Jefferson or George Washington as slave owners ... Griffith has been knocked down for propaganda - he's closer to the 20th Century. America would have a trauma if it had to purge and get rid of its founding fathers that were slave owners. |
I think that was his humanity coming through, ... That he wanted this naturally without a lot of force or war... |
It was one of the main gripes of the early civil rights movement and the NAACP, ... It was the major battle that they fought, because this was major propaganda. |
That was normal public opinion, ... He was not abnormal. |