''The Birth of a Race'' is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by

John W. Noble John Winthrop Noble (born Winfield Fernley Kutz; June 24, 1880 – September 10, 1946) was an American film director and screenwriter during the silent era. Career John Winthrop Noble was the professional name of Winfield Fernley Kutz (someti ...

. It was made as a response to the 1915 film ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...

'', and was meant to discredit the negative stereotypes perpetuated by the film. Initially, it was intended to be a short answer film that could be appended to ''The Birth of a Nation'' in 1915 but a combination of weak financial backing and growing ambitions delayed its completion for more than two years. When finally released in December 1918, following the end of World War I, ''The Birth of a Race'' was a two-hour feature-length film, portraying the achievements of black people through history. It premiered in Chicago in December, 1918, to great ballyhoo but was a commercial and critical failure. This film is preserved at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Synopsis

Following the "Birth of the Human Race" section, the film had epic scenes of Ancient Egypt with

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

soldiers and the rescue of infant Moses in the river. A later scene portrayed

Simon of Cyrene Simon of Cyrene (, Standard Hebrew ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian Hebrew ''Šimʿôn''; , ''Simōn Kyrēnaios''; ) was the man compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three ...

helping

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

carry his cross on the

Via Dolorosa The ''Via Dolorosa'' (Latin, 'Sorrowful Way', often translated 'Way of Suffering'; ar, طريق الآلام; Hebrew: ויה דולורוזה) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus would have t ...

and the signing of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

. The film then shifted to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, with two white brothers in a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

family going to war on the Western Front, one ("George") fighting for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and the other ("Oscar") fighting for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. George is wounded, and at the hospital defends it from a German attack, killing Oscar in the process. George is sent home to America, where he rescues his wife from a German spy.

Cast (in credits order)

Louis Dean Louis Dean (3 May 1874 – 8 April 1933), was an American actor. He appeared in 16 films between 1917 and 1923. He was born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States and died in Honolulu, Hawaii. Partial filmography *''The Darling of Paris' ...

as The Kaiser *Harry Dumont as The Crown Prince *Carter B. Harkness as

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

Doris Doscher Doris Doscher (January 24, 1882 – March 9, 1970) was an American actress and model who appeared in the movie ''The Birth of a Race'' (1915), playing the role of "Eve." She posed as Liberty for the Standing Liberty quarter (1916–1930) by H ...

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

*Charles Graham as

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

*Ben Hendricks, Sr. as Fritz Schmidt (credited as Ben Hendricks) *

Alice Gale Alice Gale (5 December 1858 – 27 March 1941) was an American actress. Biography Working with stock theater troupes such as the Grand Stock Company, the Girard Stock Company, and Creston Clarke's company, Gale performed on stage for four ...

as Frau Schmidt *John Reinhardt as Pat O'Brien *

Mary Carr Mary Carr (née Kenevan; March 14, 1874 – June 24, 1973), was an American film actress and was married to the actor William Carr. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1915 and 1956. She was given some of filmdoms plum mother roles in ...

as Mrs. O'Brien (credited as Mary K. Carr) *

Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...

as Jane O'Brien *

Edward Elkas Edward Elkas (February 8, 1862 – December 17, 1933) was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in New York City. On Broadway, Elkas portrayed a headwaiter in ''A Tale o ...

as Herr Von H. *

Anna Lehr Anna Lehr (November 17, 1890 – January 22, 1974) was an American silent film and stage actress.''At The Majestic'', ''Sheboygan Press'', May 24, 1916, p. 2 Biography Born in New York City to Austrian immigrant parents, Frank Lehr and Emilie Fr ...

*Philip Van Loan * George LeGuere (credited as George Le Guere) *Warren Chandler *Anita Cortez *Edwin Boring *Dick Lee *David Wall *Belle Seacombe

Production

Principal filming took place in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Several outdoor scenes were filmed in Tampa in January, 1918, including ancient Egypt and the rescue of the infant Moses from a river and

helping Jesus carry his cross on the

Reception

Critics complained that the screenplay was muddled about two white brothers fighting on opposite sides in WWI. ''Birth of a Race'' also suffered at the box office due to its release just weeks after the end of World War I; audiences were no longer interested in seeing a war film.

References

External links

* ''The Birth of a Race'' (full film) on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...