Protest of Birth of a Nation Film
The NAACP Board of Directors considered “ The Birth of a Nation” subversive in its treatment of the black race. The Board appealed to censorship boards and government officials to suppress the film. It also distributed a pamphlet prepared by Mary White Ovington to inform the public of the film’s inaccuracies. In localities where authorities refused to act against the film, the NAACP picketed the theaters that showed it. Lillian Wald, in this letter to NAACP Secretary May Childs Nerney (1912–1916), suggests a dignified procession to City Hall to protest the film’s screening in New York. The film opened in New York at the Liberty Theater on March 3.
The NAACP Board of Directors considered “ The Birth of a Nation” subversive in its treatment of the black race. The Board appealed to censorship boards and government officials to suppress the film. It also distributed a pamphlet prepared by Mary White Ovington to inform the public of the film’s inaccuracies. In localities where authorities refused to act against the film, the NAACP picketed the theaters that showed it. Lillian Wald, in this letter to NAACP Secretary May Childs Nerney (1912–1916), suggests a dignified procession to City Hall to protest the film’s screening in New York. The film opened in New York at the Liberty Theater on March 3.