Ultimately, the Civil War was about States Rights. In this case, the State's right to own people and treat them as less than human. Which is why the Confederate flag evokes so much fear for minorities, which were the frequent target of murder (lynching) that was fully permitted by said States. I generally am for "State's Rights" as a concept, but crazy ideas like that are not tolerable. The shockwaves emancipation sent through the south left lingering tensions. Like the Nazi film "Triumph of the Will", D. W. Griffith has created a work of art that ultimately... openly... promotes evil. This film is one of the reasons for the "lazy, criminal rapist black men" stereotypes that still pervade American popular culture to some degree today. Let's use this as a learning tool to improve racial harmony. Get to the root of the myth.

However, this video is one I am posting in recognition of emancipation day. Upper Canada ended slavery in 1810, this becoming a haven for runaway slaves from the American colonies. Windsor Ontario (the Canadian city south of Detroit) has been celebrating Emancipation day since the 1930's. Known as "The Greatest Freedom Show on Earth".

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The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ended slavery in the British Empire on August 1, 1834, and thus also in Canada. However, the first colony in the British Empire to abolish slavery was Upper Canada, now Ontario. John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791–1796), passed an Act Against Slavery in 1793, which led to the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada by 1810. It was superseded by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.


The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). It was released on February 8, 1915.

The film chronicles the relationship of two families in the American Civil War and Reconstruction era: the pro-Union Northern Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy Southern Camerons over the course of several years. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth is dramatized.

The film was a commercial success, though it was highly controversial owing to its portrayal of black men (some played by white actors in blackface) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women, and the portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan (whose original founding is dramatized) as a heroic force. There were widespread African-American protests against The Birth of a Nation, such as in Boston, while thousands of white Bostonians flocked to see the film. The NAACP spearheaded an unsuccessful campaign to ban the film. Griffith's indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce Intolerance the following year.

The film is also credited as one of the events that inspired the formation of the "second era" Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in the same year. The Birth of a Nation was used as a recruiting tool for the KKK. Under President Woodrow Wilson it was the first American motion picture to be screened at the White House, although in 1914 the Italian film Cabiria had been shown on the White House lawn.

Griffith's innovative techniques and storytelling power have made The Birth of a Nation one of the landmarks of film history.
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. 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 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?". In his original compositions for 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 even used as the theme song for the popular radio and television sitcom Amos 'n' Andy.

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