"As Citizens of Portland We Must Protest": Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the African American Response to D.W. Griffith's "Masterpiece"

Abstract

_KIMBERLEY MANGUN "As Citizens of Portland We Must Protest" Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the AfricanAmericanResponse to D.W Griffith's 'Masterpiece' Promotersof'The Birth ofaNation filmpetitioned thecitycouncilagain on last Wednesday morningfor a rehearingtoshow the film inPortland. The editorof The Advocate was summonedand spokeagainst the film,pointing out thatit was not onlyhistorically untruebut thatitincitedhatredbetween theraces. ? Advocate, April 11,1931 ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1915, a full-page advertisement promot ing the Portland debut of The Birth of aNation ran in theEvening Telegram. The silent film about theCivil War, Reconstruction, and rise of theKu Klux Klan had taken eightmonths to shoot, featured a cast of eighteen thousand, and cost $500,000 ? more than ten times its initial budget. It took three hours to view the twelve reels, three times longer than other films playing in 1915.And, for the first time, theater owners set their top admission prices at two dollars. Portlanders were urged to act quickly to reserve seats at the Heilig Theatre on Southwest Broadway for one of two daily showings of "TheMost TalkedofProduction in All the World." Moviegoers may not have needed much coaxing. The film had been getting rave reviews since itsFebruary 8 premiere at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles and its subsequent East Coast debut atNew York City's Liberty Theatre.TheNew York Timesjudgedthatthe filmincluded"many fineviews Research for thisarticlewas supported by theOregon Historical Society'sDonald J. Sterling,Jr., Memorial Research Fellowship. OHQ vol. 107, no. 3 ? 2006 Oregon Historical Society BEGINNING TODAY Reserve Your Seats Early Themost talkedof productioninall the world. It has created a sensation wherever shown II o J.VMKS q.CLEMMRR. CriffiOi'? nwMi>W. SI2. t?(Mitts to P THE BIRTH OF A Adapted From Thomas Dixoris Story "THE CLANSMAN" NATION A Historical Drama of theReconstruction Period Most Tremendous Dramatic Spectacle That the Brain of Man Has Yet Produced Three Hours of Gripping, Appealing? Blood-Tingling, Soul-Stirring Interest Ftshtine for th* South. Abr.ihnm Lincoln KiitMing (or the Nurth. Accompanied by Augmented Orchestra GREAT MINDS PRAISE COMMISSIONKK SAMUEL GLASGOW (Spokane censor??Mapnificcnt. Create? thing 1have ever ?sen. NEW YORK EVENING SUN?Never before ha? such a whirlwind combination ofstory, spectacle andten? drama been unrolled before New Yorkers. JAMES S.METCALF?It? drama is*ointense that it bring? the audience totheir feet asnotheatrical play ha* ever done. C F ZITTKL 'New York Journal)?It is worth $5-00 a seat to' ?e "The Birth of a Nation." GREAT MINDS PRAISE REV.!)H. CHAS. II.I'ARKHIRST?"ImBirth ?f? Nation" lw> my unqualified indorsement. GOVEIiNOR JOHNSON, iii|ili?l)iinnl in any artIhave i-ver wen. REV. THOS. B.GKEGOKY-Thc Birth ofa Nation' isbvallodds the jtnvuesi drama that hasever come t-'. Griffith. EVENING $.00 Eveninc Prices Lower Floor. First Five Rows ofBalcony.75c Rear of First Five Row? of Balcony.50c Box Seat*.$1X0 RESERVE YOniSEATS EARLY The Sunday Oregonian included this full-page advertisementforThe Birth of a Nation at the Hielig Theatre onAugust 29,1913. Mangun, "AsCitizens of PortlandWe Must Protest" 383 from the standpoint of photography, those showing thenocturnal gatherings of theKu-Klux Klan being unusually effective."An opening-night review in the Moving Picture World noted that "no picture presented inNew York" had "elicited such spontaneous and frequent applause." The film's portrayal of the rise of theKlan particularly affected patrons, who "felt the grip of the story and sympathized with thework of theKu Klux Klan battling against negro domination." Director-screenwriter D.W. Griffith and writer Thomas Dixon, Jr. ? whose books and play, The Clansman, had inspired the film ? were called from the theaterwings to address the "capacity audience." Dixon called his colleague "the greatest director in theworld," and Griffith "thanked the audience for the reception being given cThe Birth of aNation.'"1 A second article in Moving Picture World was more restrained. Although W. Stephen Bush acknowledged thatGriffith'smastery in "creating and pro longing suspense to the agonizing point" was evident in his "treatment of theKu-Klux Klan," he was critical of the film's "undisguised appeal to race prejudices." Francis Hackett, a reviewer for theNew Republic, wrote that "as a spectacle" thefilmwas "stupendous," but he objected to themotion picture because it was much more: "It isan...