Lawyers, Bibliographies, and the Klan: Griffith's resources in the censorship battle overThe Birth of a Nationin Ohio

Abstract

Except for one brief period, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation was banned in the state of Ohio from the time of its original release until the collapse of motion picture censorship in that state in 1954. Drawing on records in the collection of the Ohio State Archives, this paper examines several of the unsuccessful legal appeals undertaken by Griffith and his distributor, the Epoch Producing Corporation. A lengthy historical bibliography justifying the film’s version of reconstruction, prepared by Griffith’s attorneys, is analyzed in detail.

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