Birth of a Nation

Reconstruction Essay

Regional and historical bias affect the interpretation of the Reconstruction because of the positive or negative perception people have regarding it. The movie Birth of a Nation portrays bias and the effects of bias very accurately. During the Reconstruction the country was divided into two sides still after the Civil War, those that were for Reconstruction (mainly the North) and those who were against Reconstruction (mainly the south). The northerners view on Reconstruction was that they wren doing the South a favor by helping them rebuild and creating a solid economic, social and political foundation, they essentially wanted to reunite the country. The southerners view on Reconstruction was that it was a terrible policy enacted to punish them and protect the freed slaves; which only caused them to hate African Americans more.

Birth of a Nation reflects the views of the South on Reconstruction. Many things such as the portrayal of the KKK, the portrayal of freed slaves and the image of whites were very conflicting when it came to people that were for and against Reconstruction. The KKK who was actually a clan of racist murderers was portrayed as heroes in the film because that's how the South viewed them. The south felt that the KKK was actually trying to save them from the horrible feed slaves. In the movie the KKK are the ones that are running around doing good deeds and protecting people, particularly women from the African Americans. Whereas, in reality the KKK were the ones that were creating havoc and killing people, invoking fear into the newly freed slaves and advocating white supremacy.

The portrayal of freed slaves was very artificial compared to reality. Freed Slaves were seen as evildoers in the South; as shown in the movie they were like savages who harassed white women. The movie essentially was insulting to African Americans, they were good if they were loyal to the whites but they were bad if they wanted equality. The scene of the House of Representatives with 111 blacks and twenty three whites was very offensive because it showed blacks drinking, having their feet on the desks, arguing and basically being really uncivilized. The movie also showed the whites who sided with the blacks as being bad, because they teamed with them against the "poor Southerners."

Bias is also present from the point of view of the director D.W. Griffith. He was born in the south and created the movie based on what he saw these events taking place, thinking he was doing everyone a favor by portraying "history". He idolized the South and the KKK while insulting the freed slaves and showing them as less than human beings who were capable of murder and tried to demonstrate to people that that's what life would be like if they allowed the black people to run the country freely. His views are reflected pretty strongly in the movie even if they go