71. May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, May 6, 1915, NAACPP; Lester Walton, “Colored Citizens’ Weakness Shown in Photo Play Incident,” New York Age, March 23, 1915, cited in Anna Everett, Returning the Gaze, 75.
72. On Curley, see Jack Beatty, The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1992). On the campaign against the film in Boston generally, see Cripps, “The Reaction of the Negro to the Motion Picture, Birth of a Nation,” 118–22.
73. On Trotter and his background, see Stephen R. Fox, The Guardian of Boston: William Monroe Trotter (New York: Atheneum, 1970). The disagreement between Wilson and Trotter ended, according to the late Arthur S. Link, with “the President accusing Trotter of trying to blackmail him and virtually ordering him from his office.” Link, Wilson: The New Freedom (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956), 252; cf. Fox, Guardian of Boston, 179–86 and David L. Lewis, W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919 (New York: Henry Holt, 1993), 509–12.
74. Two comments by the national secretary of the NAACP emphasize the conservatism and elitism of NAACP tactics and the organization’s dislike of large demonstrations. On the abortive parade to Mayor Mitchel’s New York office, May C. Nerney wrote that “It is our object to have a very dignified procession of representative people. We feel that it is quality rather than quantity that counts.” “Mass meetings,” Nerney asserted in mid-March, “will only dissolve in rhetoric and in the end serve to advertise the picture.” May C. Nerney to Major R. C. Wendell, March 26, 1915; Nerney to the Reverend William P. Hayes, March 17, 1915; both in NAACPP.
75. Fox, Guardian of Boston, 191; “In Reply to Mr. Storey,” J. J. McCarthy to editor of the Herald, April 7, 1915, DWGP; “Defends ‘Birth of a Nation’ in Strong Reply,” Evening Record [Boston], April 7, 1915, DWGP. Naively, the NAACP in New York appears to have no idea who McCarthy, one of the chief publicists of the film and its local business manager in Boston, actually was. See May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud [telegram], April 21, 1915; Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, April 22, 1915; both in NAACPP.
76. Mary White Ovington to J. E. Spingarn, April 9, 1915, NAACPP; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 191.
77. “Hiss President Wilson at Race Film Hearing,” Traveller and Evening Herald [Boston], April 8, 1915, DWGP; “Hissed Wilson’s Name,” Transcript [Boston], April 8, 1915, DWGP; Mary White Ovington to J. E. Spingarn, April 9, 1915, NAACPP.
78. “Hissed Wilson’s Name,” Transcript [Boston], April 8, 1915; “Photoplay, ‘Birth of Nation,’ All Right, Says Mayor,” Herald [Boston], April 11, 1915; cf. Telegraph [Boston], April 12, 1915; all in DWGP.
79. “Picture Play Arouses Furore,” Herald [Boston], April 10, 1915; Aitken, as quoted in “The Birth of a Nation,” Morning Globe [Boston], April 12, 1915; both in DWGP.
80. “Calls Film an Outrage,” Evening Transcript [Boston], April 12, 1915, DWGP; “Mayor Calls Film ‘Outrage,’” Herald [Boston], April 13, 1915, DWGP; Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, April 15, 1915, NAACPP; “Mayor Can Not Stop Film Play,” Evening Record [Boston], April 12, 1915, DWGP.
81. Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, April 15, 1915, NAACPP.
82. “Will Add New Film to ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” Herald [Boston], April 15, 1915; “Will Improve Big Picture,” Evening Record [Boston], April 15, 1915; “‘Birth of a Nation’ to Have New Film,” Traveler and Evening Herald [Boston], April 15, 1915; all in DWGP.
83. “Added Film Depicts Progress of Negro,” Morning Herald, April 17, 1915, DWGP. The new film was “heartily applauded” at both of its first performances. Ibid.
84. Philip J. Allston to Booker T. Washington, April 12, 1915, Letters of Booker T. Washington, 13, 1914–1915, eds. Harlan and Smock, 261–62. Washington was determined not to do anything that might be construed in any way as an endorsement of The Birth of a Nation, which he regarded as a “hurtful, vicious play.” Booker T. Washington to Philip J. Allston, April 25, 1915, Booker T. Washington Papers. Also see Booker T. Washington to Florence E. Sewell Bond, June 30, 1915, Letters of Booker T. Washington, 13, 1914–1915, ed. Harlan and Smock, 335.
85. Fleener, “Answering Film with Film,” 402–4; May C. Nerney to Desha Breckenridge, September 20, 1915, May C. Nerney to Huston Quin, September 20, 1915, both in NAACPP.
86. Fleener, “Answering Film with Film”: 406–11, 404–405. Thomas Cripps argues that the adding of the new epilogue effectively “drove a wedge between Northern and Southern wings of black opinion.” Cripps, “The Making of The Birth of a Race,” p. 43.
87. Charles [A?]llason to Booker T. Washington, June 1, 1915, Booker T. Washington Papers, quoted in Fleener, “Answering Film with Film”: 412. Fleener observes that the epilogue was shown during 1915–16 in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; New Haven, Connecticut; and New York. Ibid. For other showings, see “The Birth of a Nation,” Battle Creek Morning Journal, February 4, 1916, DWGP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Here Again; Negro Views Added,” Post [St. Louis], March 6, 1916, DWGP; Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 367–70.
88. May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, April 17, 1915, NAACPP. Nerney was referring to black boxer Jack Johnson’s defeat by white pugilist Jess Willard in Cuba a few days earlier.
89. “‘Birth of a Nation’ Causes Near-Riot,” Morning Globe [Boston], April 18, 1915, DWGP; “150 Patrolmen Guard ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Morning Herald [Boston], April 18, 1915, DWGP; “Small Riot over Film,” Moving Picture World [New York], May 1, 1915, DWGP; Schickel, Griffith, 294–95; Cripps, Slow Fade to Black, 59–60; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 192–93. On this and later incidents in Boston, see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 177–80.
90. “To Take Protest to Gov. Walsh,” Advertiser [Boston], April 19, 1915, DWGP; “Mass Meeting in Boston to Ask Governor’s Support in Prohibition,” Morning Union [Springfield, Massachusetts], April 19, 1915, DWGP; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 193–94.
91. “No Race Film for Sundays,” Post [Boston], April 17, 1915, DWGP; “Memorandum on ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Founded on Dixon’s ‘Clansman,’” n.d., 3, NAACPP.
92. “Race Issue in Old Bay State,” Morning Star [Newark, New Jersey], April 26, 1915;” Walsh Acts on Photo-Play,” Post [Boston], April 15, 1915; “Confer on Film Play,” Globe [Boston], April 15, 1915; all in DWGP.
93. Schickel, Griffith, 295–96; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 194.
94. “Hundreds Flock to City Court,” Record [Boston], April 20, 1915, DWGP; “Court to Rule on Photo-Play,” Globe [Boston], April 20, 1915, DWGP; Schickel, Griffith, 296; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 194.
95. Samuel E. Courtney to Booker T. Washington, April 19, 1915, Harlan and Smock, eds., The Booker T. Washington Papers, 13, 1914–1915, 274.
96. “Hundreds Flock to City Court,” Record [Boston], April 20, 1915, DWGP; “Resume Hearing on Film Protest,” American [Boston], April 21, 1915, DWGP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Can Continue Is Court’s Ruling,” Journal [Boston], April 22, 1915, DWGP; “Theatre Yields on Film Protest,” American [Boston] April 22, 1915, DWGP; “Protested Film Scene Cut after Court Warning,” Christian Science Monitor [Boston], April 22, 1915, DWGP; Schickel, Griffith, 296; Joseph P. Loud to Mae [sic] C. Nerney [night letter], April 28, 1915, NAACPP. Also on this, see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 107–109.
97. “Files Bill Aimed at Photo-Play,” Journal [Boston], April 21, 1915; “Protested Film Scene Cut after Court Warning,” Christian Science Monitor [Boston], April 22, 1915; “Movies Hearing on Friday,” Evening Record [Boston], April 22, 1915; “Fight for New Law in War on ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Traveler and Evening Herald [Boston], April 22, 1915; all in DWGP. On the struggle for censorship legislation in Massachusetts, see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 332–38.
98. “Fight for New Law in War on ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Traveler and Evening Herald [Boston], April 22, 1915, DWGP.
99. “Winnow Crop of ‘Ru
sh Order’ Censor Bills,” American [Boston], April 30, 1915, DWGP.
100. For these and other editorial condemnations of the threatened legislation, see “Kill the Sullivan Bill!,” Traveler and Evening Herald [Boston], April 26, 1915, DWGP.
101. Thomas Dixon to the editor, Journal [Boston], April 26, 1915, DWGP.
102. “Race Question Moves Boston,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], April 24, 1915; “Film May Be a Factor in Mass. Politics,” Gazette [Worcester, Massachusetts], April 24, 1915; both in DWGP.
103. “Eliot Protests ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Journal [Boston], April 26, 1915; “Negro Women Offer to Die to Stop Film,” Morning Herald [Boston], April 26, 1915; “Colored Women Form a League,” Morning Globe [Boston], April 26, 1915; “500 in a Room Meant for 200,” Evening Globe [Boston], April 26, 1915; “Negroes Hear Opponents,” Evening Transcript [Boston], April 26, 1915; all in DWGP.
104. American [Boston], May 1, 1915, DWGP; “New Bill Provides 3 Censors,” Post [Boston], May 1, 1915, DWGP; Butler R. Wilson to Dear Sir, April 27, 1915, NAACPP.
105. Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 4, 1915, NAACPP; Butler R. Wilson to May C. Nerney, May 4, 1915, NAACPP; M. H. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 2, 1915 [telegram], NAACPP; “Pres. Eliot Scores ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Advertiser [Boston], May 3, 1915, DWGP. On Governor Walsh’s role in the controversy, see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 258–60.
106. Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 10, May 13, 1915, NAACPP; Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 18, 1915 [telegram], NAACPP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Opponents Win Senate Fight,” Journal [Boston], May 18, 1915, DWGP; “Opponents of ‘Birth of a Nation’ Win,” Post [Boston], May 18, 1915, DWGP; “Film Censorship Bill Now Law,” Advertiser [Boston], May 22, 1915, DWGP; “‘Nation’ Film Is Now Up to Censor Board,” Journal [Boston], May 22, 1915, DWGP.
107. E. D. White to J. P. Tumulty, April 5, 1915, Woodrow Wilson Papers, here as cited in Link, Woodrow Wilson: The New Freedom, 253.
108. Warren F. Johnson to Woodrow Wilson, March 29, 1915, enclosing Margaret B. Damrosch to Joseph P. Tumulty, March 27, 1915, in Link, ed., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 32, 454–55; from Joseph P. Tumulty to Woodrow Wilson, April 24, 1915; Woodrow Wilson to Joseph P. Tumulty, April 24, 1915, including n. 1; Woodrow Wilson to Joseph P. Tumulty, April 28, 1915, including nn. 1 and 2, in Link, ed., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 33, April 17-July 21, 1915 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 68, 86. On Wilson’s statement, also see “Says He Didn’t O.K. Movie,” Blade [Toledo], April 30, 1915; “Wilson Denies He O.K.D Film,” Sun [New York], May 1, 1915; both in DWGP. Three years later, Wilson wrote to Tumulty, his secretary, of his strong disapproval of this “unfortunate production” and expressed his wish that its screening “might be avoided, particularly in communities where there are so many colored people.” Wilson to Tumulty, c. April 22, 1918, in Link, ed., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 47: March 13—May 12, 1918 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 388, n.3.
109. May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, April 21, 1915 (also see George Foster Peabody, “Gross Caricatures of the Negro,” reprinted in Fighting a Vicious Film, 32, and George Foster Peabody to the editor, Herald [Boston], April 15, 1915); Walter P. Eaton to May C. Nerney, April 23, 1915; May C. Nerney to Senator Wesley L. Jones, April 22, 1915; W. L. Jones to May C. Nerney, April 27, 1915; May C. Nerney, “Memorandum for Dr. Du Bois,” dated May 7, 1915; all the above, except where indicated, from NAACPP.
110. “Demand Censors Act Immediately,” Post [Boston], May 22, 1915, DWGP; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 196–97; Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 21, 1915, NAACPP; “Trotter in Appeal for the Mayor,” Post [Boston], May 24, 1915, DWGP.
111. “Protested Film Scene Cut after Court Warning,” Christian Science Monitor [Boston], April 22, 1915; “Theatre Yields on Film Protest,” American [Boston], April 22, 1915; both in DWGP.
112. “Censors ‘Pass’ Film Play that Stirred City,” Morning Herald [Boston], June 3, 1915; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Wins,” Post [Boston], June 3, 1915; “Race Film Foes Undaunted by Censors ‘OK,’” Boston Traveler, June 4, 1915; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Wins,” Boston Transcript, June 6, 1915; all in DWGP.
113. “Photo-Play Opponents Arrested,” Post [Boston], June 8, 1915, DWGP; “Arrest Eight of Objectors,” Morning Globe [Boston], June 8, 1915, DWGP; Fox, Guardian of Boston, 197.
114. “Resolutions of Executive Committee, Boston Branch, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” June 8, 1915; May C. Nerney to Nettie J. As-berry, July 30, 1915; May C. Nerney to George W. Crawford, September 7, 1915; all in NAACPP.
115. Albert E. Pillsbury to Archibald Grimké, May 17, 1915, quoted in Fox, Guardian of Boston, 196.
116. “I wish you could have been here on Sunday,” one Bostonian proudly observed; “you would never doubt the colored people in this part of the country. We have them with us … The colored people are fighting superbly. The whites agree, but are ‘too busy’—with notable exceptions.” Mrs. Mary H. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 5, 1915, NAACPP.
117. May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, March 17, 1915, NAACPP; Celia Parker Woolley to editor, Record Herald [Chicago], April 1, 1915 (printed April 6, 1915), DWGP; May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, April 5 [telegram], April 9, April 30, May 7, 1915, NAACPP.
118. “Mayor’s Wife Censors ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” Tribune [Chicago], March 20 [?], 1915, DWGP; “‘The Birth of a Nation’ Passed in Chicago,” Moving Picture World, April 10, 1915, DWGP; George Packard to May C. Nerney, April 12, 1915, NAACPP; Alonzo J. Bowling to editor of The Crisis, November 1, 1916, NAACPP. Later, as the controversy over the film deepened, Mrs. Harrison changed her mind, describing it now as an “awful thing” that “would arouse racial feeling.” “Mrs. Harrison Objects to ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Tribune [Chicago], April 28, 1915, DWGP.
119. “Mayor Arouses Ire of Negroes,” Examiner [Chicago], July 12, 1915, DWGP.
120. Dr. Charles E. Bentley to May C. Nerney, May 4, 1915, NAACPP.
121. Thomas W. Allinson to May C. Nerney, May 3, 1915, NAACPP; The Crisis (June 1915): 85–86; Booker T. Washington to Charles E. Mason, May 28, 1915, Letters of Booker T. Washington, 13, 1914–1915, ed. Harlan and Smock, 296.
122. “Thompson Bars Griffith Film, Birth of a Nation,” Tribune [Chicago], May 15, 1915, DWGP; May C. Nerney to Glesner Fowler, May 18, 1915, NAACPP; City Ordinances Governing the Exhibition of Moving Pictures [pamphlet], Department of Police, City of Chicago, n.d., NAACPP.
123. Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, June 15, 1915, NAACPP; Booker T. Washington to William H. Thompson, June 3, 1915, Letters of Booker T. Washington, 13, 1914–1915, ed. Harlan and Smock, 317–18.
124. “It will be a serious and grave mistake to wait until the pictures are actually being exhibited … and then attempt to close them up,” observed Booker T. Washington. “The weakness of this plan has been clearly demonstrated in New York and Boston.” Washington, as quoted in Fighting a Vicious Film, 35.
125. “Movie Gives Patriotic Thrills,” Examiner [Chicago], May 24, 1915, DWGP; James Warren Currie, “The Turn of the Wheel,” Examiner [Chicago], May 29, 1915, DWGP; the Hattons, “Mr. Griffith and Our Busy Censors,” Herald [Chicago], May 30, 1915, DWGP; T. W. Allinson to May C. Nerney, June 5, 1915, NAACPP.
126. May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, May 21, 1915; May C. Nerney to T. W. Allinson, May 24, 1915; both in NAACPP.
127. Charles Bentley, a member of the Board of the Chicago NAACP, tried to persuade national secretary May Nerney not to launch a major campaign against the state censorship bill. The bill, he wrote, “is being fought by every Church—social service and philanthropic organization, I believe, in Chicago. I can see no good of you expending your energy so long as so many splendid organizations are fighting it and are upon the ground.” Charles E. Bentley to May C. Nerney, May 25, 1915, NAACP. On the Jackson bill, see The Crisis, April 1915, 269; May C. Nerney to Judge Robert M
cMurdy, May 24, NAACPP; “Race Film Bill Passes in House on Negro’s Plea,” Tribune [Chicago], May 19, 1915, DWGP; “Race Film Bill Passes House,” Billboard [Chicago], May 29, 1915, DWGP.
128. “City Loses Fight to Bar ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” Journal [Chicago], June 5, 1915; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Wins,” News [Chicago], June 5, 1915; “‘Nation’s Birth’ Film Is O. K.’D,” American [Chicago], June 5, 1915; all in DWGP. On the legal background to the Chicago fight, see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 112–13.
129. “The Birth of a Nation,” Tribune [Chicago], May 25, 1915; “There Is No Excuse for Stopping This Show,” Examiner [Chicago], May 22, 1915; “Let It Stay Barred,” Herald [Chicago], May 17, 1915; all in DWGP.
130. “Mayor to Pass on ‘Birth of a Nation’ Film,” American [Chicago], May 27, 1915; “Colored Clergymen May Pass on a Film,” Herald [Chicago], June 1, 1915; both in DWGP.
131. “Sue Mayor to Show ‘Birth of a Nation’ Pictures in Chicago,” American [Chicago], June 2, 1915; “Backers of Photoplay Seek to Enjoin Mayor,” Journal [Chicago], June 2, 1915; “Injunction Asked against City for ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Examiner [Chicago], June 3, 1915; “‘Birth of a Nation’ at Crisis,” News [Chicago], June 3, 1915; all in DWGP.
132. T. W. Allinson to May C. Nerney, June 5, 1915; Charles E. Bentley to May C. Nerney, June 10, 14, 1915; all in NAACPP.
133. “Opinion by Hon. William Fenimore Cooper, Superior Court of Cook County,” in the case of Joseph J. McCarthy vs. City of Chicago, June 5, 1915, 1–3, DWGP.
134. “Society Puts Approval on Dixon Film,” Examiner [Chicago], June 6, 1915, DWGP; “Crowds Get Thrill at ‘Birth of a Nation,’” News [Chicago], June 7, 1915, DWGP; “Questions Motive of City in Fight on Birth of a Nation,” Tribune [Chicago], June 8, 1915, DWGP. Griffith’s gratitude to Cooper was long-lived: he sent members of his staff to help the judge (a Democrat) a year later in a difficult fight for reelection. See “Griffith and Film Houses Play Part in Chicago Politics,” Morning Telegraph [New York], June 9, 1916; “News and Gossip of the Plays and Players,” Globe and Commercial Advertiser [New York], June 9, 1916; both in DWGP.
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