135. “‘Birth of a Nation’ May Be Produced, Court Decides,” Examiner [Chicago], June 6, 1915; “Censors to Report on ‘Birth of a Nation’ Today,” Tribune [Chicago], June 7, 1915; “Censors Find against ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Herald [Chicago], June 8, 1915; all in DWGP
136. “Censorship Loses Again,” Motography [Chicago] 13, no. 25 (June 19, 1915); “‘Birth of a Nation’ Should Be Shown the Children,” Post [Chicago], June 19, 1915; both in DWGP.
137. “Film Censors Are Censored,” Examiner [Chicago], June 8, 1915, DWGP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Appeal Is Up To-Day,” Examiner [Chicago], June 10, 1915, DWGP; “Asks Quick Appeal in Birth of a Nation Suit,” Journal [Chicago], June 21, 1915, DWGP; Charles E. Bentley to May C. Nerney, June 10, 14, 1915, NAACPP; May C. Nerney to Roger N. Baldwin, June 11, 1915, NAACPP.
138. “In Again, Out Again,” Tribune [Chicago], July 16, 1915, DWGP; Thomas W. Allinson to May C. Nerney, July 19, 1915, NAACPP.
139. May C. Nerney to Dr. Stephen J. Lewis, September 11, 1915, NAACPP; “Movie Show Free for Legislators,” Evening Telegraph [Philadelphia], March 12, 1915, DWGP; G. W. Bradenburgh to NAACP, March 12, 1915, NAACPP. Bradenburgh, a supporter of the independent filmmakers, was under the false impression that Birth was released by the General Film Company.
140. See, for example, Jennie M. Proctor to May C. Nerney, June 7, 1915; Stephen J. Lewis to May C. Nerney, September 8, 1915; both in NAACPP.
141. Jennie M. Proctor to May C. Nerney, June 15, August 13, 1915; S. R. Morsell to May C. Nerney [telegram], August 25, 1915; Jennie M. Proctor to NAACP [telegram], September 6, 1915; all in NAACPP.
142. May C. Nerney to Laetitia A. Graves, June 2, 1915, NAACPP.
143. “Philadelphia Authorities, Overzealous for Colored Brother’s Safety, Fail in Court Attempt to Suppress ‘Nation,’” Motion Picture News [New York], September 26 [?], 1915, DWGP; also see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 114.
144. “Seek Again to Ban ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Inquirer [Philadelphia], September 8, 1915; “Colored Mob Starts a Riot over Film Play,” Press [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; “Negro Mob Clubbed from Film Theater,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; all in DWGP.
145. “Philadelphia Authorities, Overzealous for Colored Brother’s Safety, Fail in Court Attempt to Suppress ‘Nation,’” Motion Picture News [New York], September 26 [?], 1915; “Colored Mob Starts a Riot over Film Play,” Press [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; “Mayor to Review Row over ‘Movie’ on Friday,” Evening Bulletin [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; “Threw Bricks into Box-Office,” The Billboard [Philadelphia], October 2, 1915; all in DWGP. Also see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 180–81.
146. “Mayor to Review Row over ‘Movie’ on Friday,” Evening Bulletin [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; “Colored Leaders Protest to Mayor ‘Attack by Police,’” Telegraph [Philadelphia], September 21, 1915; both in DWGP.
147. “Ministers Condemn ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], October 3, 1915, DWGP.
148. The NAACP also seems to have been involved in unsuccessful attempts to stop the film in the cities of Harrisburg and Easton. See Stephen J. Lewis to May C. Nerney, September 11, 1915; Burton Branch to May C. Nerney, October 26, 1915; secretary to Miss Nerney to Burton Branch, November 2, 1915; all in NAACPP.
149. S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, April 9, 11, 1915, NAACPP.
150. S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, April 9, 1915, NAACPP.
151. S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, April 16, 29, May 12 [telegram], 1915; M. Sula Butler to May C. Nerney, May 7, 1915; May C. Nerney to M. Sula Butler, May 11, 1915; May C. Nerney to S. P. Keeble, May 16, 1915; May C. Nerney to Minnie B. Mosby, May 24, 1915; May C. Nerney to Minnie B. Mosby, June 2, 1915; Chas. B. Williams, chairman, Ohio Board of Censors, to May C. Nerney, May 26, 1915; all in NAACPP.
152. S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, May 25, 1915; May C. Nerney to Our Ohio Branches, June 15, 1915; S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, July 9, 1915; all in NAACPP.
153. “Ohio Bars Dixon Play,” Times-Star [Cincinnati], September 28, 1915, DWGP; “Birth of a Nation Can’t Be Shown in Cleveland,” News [Cleveland], September 28, 1915, NAACPP; S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, September 28, 1915, NAACPP; Robert B. Barcus to editor, The Crisis, September 28, 1915, NAACPP.
154. Untitled report of May C. Nerney on the Ohio situation, received November 1, 1915, 1, NAACPP.
155. Ibid; S. P. Keeble to May C. Nerney, April 9, September 28, 1915, NAACPP; Harry C. Smith to May C. Nerney, May 24, 1915, NAACPP; Minnie B. Mosby to May C. Nerney, May 26, 1915, NAACPP. Later, Nerney protested to Governor Willis that the Ohio traveling show known as the “Corn Boys” tour had included The Birth of a Nation on its program in Philadelphia. Willis contacted Thomas P. Riddle, the organizer of the tour and an employee of the state government, to express his disapproval. When Birth nonetheless still formed part of the entertainment, Riddle was dismissed. May C. Nerney to Governor Frank B. Willis, November 26, 1915; “Corn Tour Man to Be Ousted,” Times Star [Cincinnati], December 6, 1915; Harry E. Davis to May C. Nerney, December 29, 1915; all in NAACPP. On the Ohio controversy, also see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 260–61.
156. “The Birth of a Nation,” Gazette [Cleveland], October 28, 1916, NAACPP; Star [?] [Cincinnati], January 6, 1916, NAACPP; “Ohio Supreme Court Throws Out Film Suit,” Citizen [Columbus], October 24, 1916, NAACPP. Also see Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 96–97.
157. Untitled report of May C. Nerney on the Ohio situation, received November 1, 1915, 1–2, NAACPP.
158. William Stevenson to Hon. George Puchta [mayor of Cincinnati], February 15, 1916; William Stevenson to Roy Nash, acting national secretary, February 22, 1916; Roy Nash to the Honorable George Puchta, February 24, 1916 [telegram]; all in NAACPP.
159. One of the film’s distributors in Kansas City, Missouri, complained to a journalist that the film would be kept out of Kansas because “the members of the appeal board and the official censor are afraid of the big colored vote.” “‘Birth of a Nation’ Barred in State?,” Leavenworth Times [Kansas], November 26, 1915, DWGP.
160. May C. Nerney to Arthur Capper, November 9, 1915; Arthur Capper to May C. Nerney, November 13, 1915; May C. Nerney to Arthur Capper, November 23, 1915; Arthur Capper to May C. Nerney, November 27, 1915; all in NAACPP. Capper was as good as his word. As he noted in October 1918, Birth of a Nation had still not been shown in Kansas. Arthur Capper to John R. Stilladay, October 17, 1918, NAACPP.
161. Governor Woodbridge N. Ferris of Michigan promised to do anything he could to help the NAACP but warned that state law “made it unlikely [he] could help much.” Governor Hiram W. Johnson of California, asked to state his position on the film, responded that he had “never in any fashion” endorsed it (though he also described it as “a very remarkable and wonderful production”). Woodbridge N. Ferris to May C. Nerney, October 12, 1915; Hiram W. Johnson to W. A. Butler, May 8, 1915; both in NAACPP.
162. “Action against Production of ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” undated memo, NAACPP; May C. Nerney to Judge William M. Dunn, July 27, 1915, NAACPP; May C. Nerney to R. L. Brokenburr, July 29, 1915, NAACPP; May C. Nerney to Cornelia F. Maury, June 10, 1915, NAACPP; Report of the Secretary, Miss Nerney, Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, June 14, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8, NAACPP; Eva B. Jones to Mr. Randolph, August 23, 1915, NAACPP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Is Banned,” Review [Atlantic City, New Jersey], August 14, 1915, DWGP; “Bartlett to Stop ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Press [Atlantic City], August 14, 1915, DWGP; “Negro Protest Stops Film Play,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], August 14, 1915, DWGP; unsigned memorandum (on New Haven situation), dated August 13, 1915, NAACPP; George W. Crawford to May C. Nerney, September 11, 1915, NAACPP; “A Statement of Facts Regarding the photo play ‘The Birth of a Nation,’ by the Providence Branch of the NAACP,” n. d
., NAACPP; “Memorandum from Mr. [Butler R.] Wilson,” November 5, 1915, NAACPP; Mary White Ovington to Butler R. Wilson, November 4, 1915, NAACPP; T. M. Brown to NAACP, November 8, 1915, NAACPP; “Censorship Bugbear Is Laid Low in Minneapolis; Mayor Has Confidence in National Board,” Motion Picture News [New York], January 1, 1916, DWGP; Fleener-Marzec, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” 104–107.
163. E. Marshall to May C. Nerney, August 9, 1915 [telegram]; Eva B. Jones to Mr. Randolph, August 23, 1915; “Politics in Censoring,” Motion Picture World [New York], October 9, 1915; all in NAACPP.
164. Jessye E. McClain to May C. Nerney, April 12, 1915; May C. Nerney to S. Joe Brown, May 7, June 7, 1915; both in NAACPP. On the Des Moines ordinance, also see The Crisis (June 1915): 86.
165. On Tacoma, see Henrietta Sadler to May C. Nerney, August 11, 1915 [telegram]; copy of Tacoma Ordinance no. 6179; “Action against Production of ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” undated memo; all in NAACPP. On Wilmington, see Report of the Secretary, Miss Nerney, Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, June 14, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8; “An Ordinance to Prohibit the Exhibition of Any Moving Picture Likely to Cause Ill-Feeling between the White and Black Races,” June 18, 1915, all in NAACPP. For Lansing, see Charles A. Campbell to May C. Nerney, December 30, 1915, February 10, 1916, NAACPP; “Photoplay Is All ‘O.K.’ Says Board of Censors,” The Lansing Press [Michigan], January 29, 1916, DWGP. On Detroit, see “Defeat Effort to Restrict Film,” Morning Telegraph [Detroit, Michigan], December 21, 1915, DWGP.
166. See copy of Joint Resolution proposed in the House of Representatives (64th Congress, 1st session, H. J. Res. 221, May 9, 1916), NAACPP. The following day, Congressman Benjamin K. Focht of Pennsylvania also introduced an unsuccessful resolution to suppress the film on the grounds that it insulted the memory of Pennsylvanian Thaddeus Stevens, a congressional Republican who had been a major supporter of radical Reconstruction. “Would Suppress ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Daily Item [Sunbury, Pennsylvania], May 10, 1916, DWGP. A copy of the resolution itself (64th Congress, 1st session, H. J. Res. 222, May 10, 1916) is in the NAACPP.
167. “Police Won’t Stop ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Post [Terre Haute, Indiana], January 5, 1916; “Mayor Will Not Oppose Showing of Photodrama,” Times [Louisville, Kentucky], February 9, 1916; “Declines to Interfere,” Louisville Herald, February 9, 1916; “Show Photoplay in Present Form,” Chronicle [Spokane, Washington], July 26, 1915; all in DWGP.
168. “‘Clansman,’ with One Scene Removed, Approved,” Bee [Sacramento, California], May 28, 1915, DWGP; “‘Nation’ Is No Race Slanderer, Milwaukee Declares,” Motion Picture News [New York], July 24, 1915, DWGP; “Action against Production of ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” undated memo, NAACPP.
169. “Walter Sanford Is Acquitted,” Republic [St. Louis], October 7, 1915; “Fear Race Feud; Arrest Manager,” Morning Telegraph [New York], February 19, 1916; “Says Photoplay Has Stimulated Race Prejudice,” Times [Louisville, Kentucky], February 18, 1916; “Bigelow Files Demurrer in ‘Birth of a Nation’ Suit,” Courier-Journal [Louisville], February 20, 1916; “Writ against Film Play Denied by Judge Fields,” Courier-Journal [Louisville], February 26, 1916; all in DWGP.
170. Carole Marks, Farewell—We’re Good and Gone: The Great Black Migration (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), 121–22.
171. See “Negro Protest Stops Film Play,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], August 14, 1915; “Nixon to Make Fight for Suppressed Film,” ibid.; “Court Says No Law Makes Him Picture Censor,” Evening Union [Atlantic City?], August 24, 1915; all in DWGP.
172. “Negro Protest Stops Film Play,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], August 14, 1915, DWGP.
173. “Negroes Object to ‘Birth of a Nation,’” News Press [St. Joseph, Missouri], November 20, 1915; “Negroes Protest Some ‘Birth of a Nation’ Scenes,” Gazette [St. Joseph], November 21, 1915; both in DWGP.
174. “Evansville Must Be Protected Always,” Journal News [Evansville, Kentucky], November 30, 1915; “Colored Citizens Denounce Lynching,” Courier [Evansville], December 5, 1915; “Censor Board Made Permanent,” Courier [Evansville], December 6, 1915; “Armed Officers Guard Theater,” Courier [Evansville], December 8, 1915; all in DWGP.
175. May C. Nerney to Desha Breckinridge, September 16, 1915, NAACPP; cf. J. Mott Hallowell to Mayor James M. Curley, n.d., reprinted in Fighting a Vicious Film, 26.
176. Frederic C. Howe to Joseph P. Loud, April 6, 1915; May C. Nerney to Desha Breckinridge, September 16, 1915; both in NAACPP.
177. P. A. Goines to W. E. B. Du Bois, August 12, 1915. An article on Johnson’s lynching by novelist James Oppenheim had appeared in the New York Independent on October 10, 1912. May C. Nerney to P. A. Goines, September 7, 1915; Nerney to R. Granville Curry, September 16, 1915; Nerney to Hudson Quin, September 16, 1915; all in NAACPP.
178. May C. Nerney to P. A. Goines, September 7, 1915, NAACPP.
179. J. Milton Sampson to May C. Nerney, October 16, 1915; J. Milton Sampson to R. G. Randolph, November 8, 1915; “Ainslie Authorizes Griffith’s Big Photo Play,” News Leader [Richmond, Virginia], November n.d., 1915; all in NAACPP.
180. “Hate of a Nation,” Afro-American [Baltimore], March 18, 1916, DWGP.
181. J. Rivers Barnwell to W. E. B. Du Bois, August 16, 1915; May C. Nerney to the Reverend S. E. J. Watson, September 8, 1915; both in NAACPP.
182. “Protest Made against Showing of Picture,” Citizen [Asheville, North Carolina], October 2, 1915, DWGP.
183. P. A. Goines to W. E. B. Du Bois, August 12, 1915, NAACPP; J. Rivers Barn-well to W. E. B. Du Bois, August 16, 1915, NAACPP; “Protest Made against Showing of Picture,” Citizen [Asheville, North Carolina], October 2, 1915, DWGP; Joseph G. Attwell to May C. Nerney, November 6, 1915, NAACPP; D. B. Frazier to W. E. B. Du Bois, November 6, 1915, NAACPP; Dr. Wm P. Saunders to W. E. B. Du Bois, October 19, 1915, NAACPP; P. J. Clyde Randall to May C. Nerney, December 4, 1915, NAACPP; “Ainslie Authorizes Griffith’s Big Photo Play,” News Leader [Richmond, Virginia], November [?], 1915, NAACPP.
184. T. G. Nutter to W. E. B. Du Bois, December 9, 1915 [telegram], NAACPP; “Make Protest against Movie,” Charleston Post [Charleston, Virginia], December 10, 1915, DWGP; T. G. Nutter to NAACP, December 13, 1915 [telegram], NAACPP; J. M. Reed to W. E. B. Du Bois, November 28, 1915, NAACPP; “‘Birth of a Nation’ Warmly Defended,” Sentinel-Record [Hot Springs, Arkansas], December 3, 1915, DWGP; “Censorship by City Council,” Sentinel-Record [?], December [?], DWGP.
185. P. J. Clyde Randall to May C. Nerney, December 4, 1915, NAACPP.
186. Cook, Fire from the Flint, 141–42; Moore, “South Carolina’s Reaction to the Photoplay The Birth of a Nation”: 30–40, quotation from 40.
187. Inscoe, “The Clansman on Stage and Screen: North Carolina Reacts: 139, 151–60.
188. Dan Leab, “Blacks in American Cinema,” in The Political Companion to American Film, ed. Gary Crowdus (Chicago: Lake View Press, 1994), 42; Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks, 3–14, 17. Cedric J. Robinson criticizes Bogle’s stereotyping, arguing, for example, that the “buck” had a history antedating black slavery in the Americas (he cites Shakespeare’s Othello as an example). Robinson, “In the Year 1915: D. W. Griffith and the Whitening of America,” Social Identities 3, no. 2 (1997): 162.
189. Koszarski, An Evening’s Entertainment, 1–2.
190. May C. Nerney [?] to Dr. Stephen S. Wise, April 16, 1915, NAACPP; Mary White Ovington, memorandum marked “Confidential,” June 1915, NAACPP. In this memorandum, Ovington identified Sterne as the instigator of the project.
191. May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, May 6, 1915, NAACPP.
192. Ibid.; May C. Nerney to William English Walling, May 17, 1915, NAACPP.
193. May C. Nerney to Frederic C. Howe, June 10, 1915, NAACPP.
194. Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, June 14, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8; May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, May 11, 1915; Nerne
y to William English Walling, May 13, 1915; all in NAACPP.
195. “Memorandum for Miss Stearne [sic],” dated April 26, 1915, enclosed with May C. Nerney to Rose Janowitz, April 26, 1915, NAACPP.
196. Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, May 10, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8; May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, May 17, 1915; both in NAACPP.
197. May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, May 15, 1915; Loud to Nerney, May 16, 1915; Nerney to Loud, May 17, 1915; all in NAACPP.
198. E. E. Bentley to May C. Nerney, May 13, 1915 [telegram]; postscript by Mary Hallowell Loud to Joseph P. Loud to May C. Nerney, May 19, 1915; May C. Nerney to Joseph P. Loud, May 17, May 21, 1915; all in NAACPP.
199. May C. Nerney to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, May 11, 1915, NAACPP.
200. Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, June 14, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8, NAACPP.
201. May C. Nerney to Esther Nelson, June 15, 1915, NAACPP; Cripps, Slow Fade, 72.
202. “Negroes to Produce Own ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], September 11, 1915, DWGP; Schickel, Griffith, 306–307; Harry C. Oppenheimer to Emmett Jay Scott, October 1, 1915, Booker T. Washington Papers, 13, 1914–1915, ed. Harlan and Smock, 374–75.
203. According to Thomas Cripps, Sterne “liked the idea of engaging white attention by defining black aspiration as Lincoln’s Dream.” Cripps, “The Making of The Birth of a Race,” p. 44.
204. Report of the Scenario Committee, Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, October 11, November 8, 1915, NAACP Board of Directors, Box A-8, NAACPP; Thomas Cripps, ‘The Making of The Birth of a Race,’ 44; Cripps, Slow Fade, 73.
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