Birth of a Nation The Suppression of a People Essay Example For Students

Birth of a Nation: The Suppression of a People Essay Birthof a Nation: The Suppression of a PeopleAmerica is believed to be founded as thefirst state founded on the notion that democracy is for all people, howeverthis is far from the truth. Not only did it take almost two hundredyears till the American government grants full opportunities to AfricanAmerican, they even accepted the slavery of these peoples for almost halfof that time. A republic government, such as the American government,is based on the idea that all people can have an equal represented fairlyand have an equal vote. This is very hard to accomplish when groupsof people living within that republic are discriminated against. If society is not willing to see another group as equal they will not treattheir ideas as equals. The 1920s are a time of great prosperityin America. The Wall Street was hitting new highs and it seemed everyonewas getting rich. Also the 20s brings to mind radical social change. The great experiment of probation was being tested, and flappers advocatedwomans civil rights. Like other times in history when a nation goesthrough a period of great prosperity, or social changes there are conservativeresistance groups. During the early twentieth century this groupwas known as the Ku Klux Klan or KKK. They originated after the CivilWar to resist the new rights given to ex-slaves. They came back duringthe early part of the twentieth century to protest not only the new civilrights but also to voice their decent about the increasing immigrant problem. These new immigrants were coming from southeast Europe; they were oftenJewish or Catholic. They also did not always fit right into Americansociety. They often brought, and kept, their own traditions, languages,and most importantly loyalties. The Ku Klux Klan offered a placefor the conservative minded to turn to, a reactionary organization forthe day. The people whom applied for membership were not of highsocial status. Rather the Klan appealed to middle, and lower classAmericans. In a 1926 article Hiram Evans, ImperialWizard explains the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan. He first statesfor whom the Klan is organized. The only people entitled to membership,he states, are the pioneers that founded this country. It is hisbelief that it was the WASP that brought the world into its modern age,and now his people were being discriminated against. (Evans 318)Then Evans goes on to explain how his people are being oppressed. The last twenty years there was great social reform, during which schoolsstarted teaching some Darwinism, the new immigrants were infesting cities(Evans 318). Also un-American organizations are being formed tosupport these new liberal groups (Evans 318). We must Americanizethe Americans an immigrant said, this is what Evens wanted to prevent(Evans 319). The Nordic Americans were being forced out of theirjobs, not because they were not lazy, but because the new Americans workedfor a lower wage. This, the Klan said, lead to the pioneer reluctancetoward bringing more children into the world. This is, therefore,the first step in the reduction of the true American. Evans then goes on to explain why the KuKlux Klan is appealing to the average American. He says that thepeople who are in control now are to liberal to run the government andhave betrayed the American people (Evans 318). They think that intellectualleaders have the weakness of overanalyzing problems. They believewhat their leaders lacked and they had been emotion. Emotion, tothe Klan, was God inside them telling them what needs to be done (Evans321). In the 1920s the Ku Klux Klans membership soared to new highs. Single parenting and Raising Healthy Children EssayAcross the entire country fundamental thinking was popularizing (Marsden118). Evans article explains why he thinksthe Ku Klux Klans membership is growing, and for the most part he is right. He appeals to the emotion of the people, and people were willing to acton those emotions. The common person was finding his neighborhoodsgrowing in diversity, and their jobs being taken away by minorities, ofevery type. Their children were coming home from school with newliberal ideas, and their culture was slipping through their fingertips. The Klan offered hope for their future and as a strong force not only politically,but also could scare people into submission. The county did moveto the left despite the Klans efforts. In time civil rights werepast, and equal opportunity was more accessible. However the Klandoes remind of us these movements did not come with out resistance, andin the early twentieth century that resistance wore white cloths, burnedcrosses, and could have been your neighbor. This motion picture acted as a recruitingposture for the Ku Klux Klan (Wade146, 147). Local Imperial Wizardswould have their men get dressed up in their white sheets and paradein front of the movie houses. This they hoped would be further inspirationfor people not only to join the Klan, but also an opportunity to ask questions. The Klans presents would further delude peoples notion that the Klanwas a gang organization (Wade 147). Birth of a Nation is one of the many causesof the rebirth of the Klu Klux Klan of the early 1920s and the hatredthat would continue for the next forty years. It is not only a causeof the racism, but also a symbol of it. The movie is a testamentto the prevailing racism in a so-called democratic society. Whileit should have been torn apart for its historical inaccuracies it wasonly praised for it truth telling. Works CitedBush, W. Stephen. Focus on TheBirth of a Nation. Ed. Fred Silva. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice-Hall, 1971. Evans, Hiram W. The Klans Fightfor Americanism. Great Issues in AmericanHistory. Eds. Richard Hofstadterand Beatrice K. Hofstadter. New York: VintageBooks, 1982. Green, Ward. Focus on The Birthof a Nation. Ed. Fred Silva. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice-Hall, 1971. Green, Ward. Review. The Birthof a Nation. Ed. Robert Lang. New Brunswick:Rutgers University Press, 1993. Marsden, George. Fundamentalism,and the Cultural Crisis. Retracing the Past. Eds. Gary Nash and Ronald Schultz. HarperCollins College Publishers, 1994McIntosh, Ned. Review. Focus onThe Birth of a Nation. Ed. Fred Silva. EnglewoodCliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Staiger, Janet. The Birth of aNation: Reconsidering Its Reception. The Birth of aNation. Ed. Robert Lang. New Brunswick:Rutgers University Press, 1993.