Birth of a Movement: A Conversation with Dick Lehr

Boston University professor, Pulitzer finalist, and former Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr will present his latest work, The Birth of a Nation: How a legendary Filmmaker and a Crusading Editor Reignited America’s Civil War. The Birth of a Nation chronicles the controversy around the 1915 film of the same title.

The film the Birth of a Nation is hailed as a groundbreaking technical achievement. It is also a virulently racist depiction of the Civil War and Reconstruction. It portrayed black people as inhuman monsters, glorified the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan. For this, early civil rights leader and radical newspaper editor Monroe Trotter embarked on a campaign to have the film censored in Boston. The Congregationalist assistant editor, Rolfe Cobleigh advocated for the cause with oratory and in print from his headquarters at Congregational House. Lehr’s work explores the parallel lives of Trotter and the film’s director D.W. Griffith, and the film which has remained a symbol for the intersection of free expression and hate speech.

Presented in partnership with the Boston African American National Historic Site.