Film Details

“History writ with lightning” is what President Woodrow Wilson allegedly called D.W. Griffith’s galvanizing Civil War epic, which follows the members of two families—one pro-Union, the other pro-Confederacy—during the war and Reconstruction. “Lightning” is an apt description because the film consolidated all the artistic advances of the young movie medium into one sweeping, electrifying showcase. But its claims as “history” are dubious at best. Based on Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansman, the movie, hugely controversial even when first released, is undeniably racist in its depiction of African Americans and portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a defender of law and order. Dr. Robert S. Shelton, Associate Professor of History at Cleveland State University and an expert on slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, will introduce the movie and put it into its proper context. With Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Henry B. Walthall.