The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine in director D.W. Griffith's controversial Civil War epic. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
14 Kinolab Clips
Freeing of the Slaves
In the opening scene, the abolitionists push to free the slaves.
Clip #: 1, Contributor: Needs Contributor
Climax of the War
The South struggles to hold on in the civil war as the Union armies block its supplies.
Clip #: 2, Contributor: Needs Contributor
Assassination of Lincoln
President Lincoln is shot and killed at the theatre, in the presence of the Stonemans.
Clip #: 3, Contributor: Needs Contributor
Gus chases Flora
Gus chases Flora after she rejects his marriage proposal, resulting in fatal consequences.
Clip #: 4, Contributor: Needs Contributor
The Clan to the Rescue
The KKK comes to the rescue of the Camerons, who are taking refuge from their attackers in the cabin.
Clip #: 5, Contributor: Needs Contributor
The Stoneman and Cameron Families
The Stoneman and Cameron families are introduced.
Duration: 00:06:00
Timestamp: 00:02:16
Contributor: Allison Cooper
Lydia Brown
After meeting with Stoneman, Sumner meets the housekeeper, Lydia Brown.
Duration: 00:02:34
Timestamp: 00:16:38
Contributor: Alicia Echavarria
Farewell Ball
The town of Piedmont celebrates the first battle of Bull Run.
Duration: 00:03:07
Timestamp: 00:24:11
Contributor: Henry Spritz
Reuniting on the Battlefield
A Cameron brother and Stoneman brother meet on the battlefield and share an intimate moment as they die.
Duration: 00:01:09
Timestamp: 00:39:29
Contributor: Liam Juskevice
Final Assault
Duration: 00:01:57
Timestamp: 00:52:19
Contributor: Eduardo Mendoza
All Hope Gone
After giving aid to a fallen Union soldier, Ben Cameron leads the charge at the Battle of Petersburg and plants his battalion's flag in a Union canon before he is wounded.
Duration: 00:02:12
Timestamp: 00:55:08
Contributor: Eduardo Mendoza
The Great Heart
Elsie Stoneman (Lillian Gish) and Mrs. Cameron (Josephine Crowell) asks President Abraham Lincoln (Joseph Henabery) to pardon Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), who is at the hospital.
Duration: 00:02:09
Timestamp: 01:05:31
Contributor: Eduardo Mendoza
Homecoming
Flora Cameron (Mae Marsh) embellishes her tattered dress with 'Southern Ermine' (raw cotton) as she and her family prepare to welcome her brother, Ben (Henry B. Walthall), home from the Union hospital in Washington D.C.
Duration: 00:03:56
Timestamp: 01:12:29
Contributor: Eduardo Mendoza
Lincoln's Strategy of Reconciliation
Abraham Lincoln talks to Stoneman about how he will treat the South after winning the Civil War.
Duration: 00:01:58
Timestamp: 01:16:25
Contributor: Diego Turturro