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from D.W. Griffith
Directed by
D.W. Griffith
Starring
Lillian Gish (Elsie Stoneman)
Mae Marsh (Flora Cameron)
Henry B. Walthall (Colonel Ben Cameron)
Ralph Lewis (Austin Stoneman)
George Siegmann (Silas Lynch)
Walter Long (Gus)
Spottiswoode Aitken (Dr. Cameron)
Mary Alden (Lydia Brown)
George Beranger (Wade Cameron)
Monte Blue
William E. Cassidy
Elmer Clifton (Phil Stoneman)
Miriam Cooper (Margaret Cameron)
Donald Crisp (General U.S. Grant)
Josephine Crowell (Mrs. Cameron)
Sam De Grasse (Senator Sumner)
William De Vaull (Jake)
John Ford (Klansman)
Alberta Franklin
William Freeman (The Sentry)
Howard Gaye (General Robert E. Lee)
Gibson Gowland
Olga Grey (Laura Keene)
Robert Harron (Tod Stoneman)
Joseph Henabery (Abraham Lincoln)
Charles King
Alberta Lee (Mrs. Lincoln)
Jennie Lee (Mammy)
Elmo Lincoln (Blacksmith)
Bessie Love (Piedmont girl)
Eugene Pallette (Union soldier)
Wallace Reid (Jeff, the blacksmith)
Maxfield Stanley (Duke Cameron)
Charles Stevens (Volunteer)
Raoul Walsh (John Wilkes Booth)
Violet Wilkey (Flora as a child)
Tom Wilson (Stoneman's Servant)
Erich von Stroheim (Man who falls from Roof)
Written by
Thomas F. Dixon Jr. (novels)
D.W. Griffith
Frank E. Woods
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 The
Birth of a Nation tells the story of two families, one Northern
and one Southern, during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
The Camerons, headed by "Little Colonel" Ben Cameron
(Henry B. Walthall), and the Stonemans, headed by politician
Austin Stoneman, (Ralph Lewis) have been friends for years, but
find themselves on opposite sides of the battle lines when War
comes. The Civil War exacts a personal toll on both families,
only to be followed by the equally destructive Reconstruction
period. Stoneman, now a carpetbagger, moves his family Southand
falls under the spell of his mulatto housekeeper, while elevating
another mulatto, Silas Lynch (George Siegmann), to power. Cameron
watches as blacks take over the state government and harass innocent
whites, even threatening his own daughter. In retaliation, he
forms the Ku Klux Klan to combat the forces that threaten to
destroy his world. This movie today is considered to be racist
but yet a milestone in filmmaking. Silent and B&W.
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