Birth of a Movement: Film Screening and Discussion

The Boston Literary District is pleased to co-sponsor the Boston premiere of Birth of a Movement.

In 1915, Boston-based African American newspaper editor and activist William M. Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly The Birth of a Nation, unleashing a fight that still rages today about race relations, media representation, and the power and influence of Hollywood. Birth of a Movement, a documentary based on Dick Lehr’s book The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights, captures the backdrop to this prescient clash between human rights, freedom of speech, and a changing media landscape.

This free screening at the Somerville Theater will be followed by a panel discussion of experts from the film including Henry Louis Gates Jr (Harvard), Dolita Cathcart (Wheaton College) and Robert Bellinger (Suffolk University). Barbara Lewis, the Director of the Trotter Institute will be the moderator.

This event is free and open to the public but registration through Eventbrite is required.