April 12, 5:00 – 7:30pm
A&S 109
Moderator: Dr. Larry Green, Professor of African American History
Called “the most controversial film ever made in the United States,” this silent film from 1915, directed by D.W. Griffiths, encapsulates the racist outlook of the Confederacy and captures the nation’s failure to establish a true multiracial democracy in the South. More than any other single book or film, it promoted the principle of racial supremacy both nationally and internationally. It is foundational to the neo-Confederate movement and illustrates both how historical memory is misshaped and how outdated ideas of the past remain relevant to shaping the present.