The Birth of a Movement: The Fight to Ban a Controversial Film. The Birth of a Nation was known has the biggest film production of its time and was the first film to be shown at the White House. While it gained a tremendous amount of attention from the public, many people saw the film as detrimental and even wanted it banned. W.M Trotter was a African American man, whom gradated from Havard University and is known for his intellect, that spoke out against the film and the director D.W Griffith. Griffith was born in the south into poverty and really had no true knowledge of the lifestyle portrayed by the southern family in the film. He made his way into the cinema scene by first starring in small films and has been credited for his influential film techniques. Films at that time, portrayed many racial stereotypes and cliches that were deemed as offensive and inappropriate. After P.V segregation began to flood through out the nation and race politics became a very hot topic of the time period. Trotter publishes his first issue of the Guardian in 1901 with “For Every Right with All Thy Might”. After this publication we see people deciding that a neutral standpoint can’t be taken in the race conflict. Segregation was happening in the white house when Wilson, a southern president, had hired 5 southerns in the cabinet and began to segregate the workers. This angered Trotter and made him take action and express his disappointment with the President Wilson. The president shot down Trotter attempts to talk about things and his disappointments and threw him out of the White House. Before the Birth of a Nation, the play “The Clansman” had caused many race riots and was seen as extremely racist and violent towards African Americans. The film introduces a term called racial pornography and led the viewers to adopt this vision as well. In the movie, the KKK is used to “restore racial order”. “The Griffith Way” and many other propaganda pieces were used for efforts to influence others and used as a recruiter for the clan. The name Birth of a Nation can be seen as the new white supremacy movement after the civil war. The showing of the film in New York permitted African Americans to see it. At the end of the film, the KKK is seen as the hero and inspired the clan. By the 1920’s the KKK was the biggest it had been in history and even marched Washington. “Within our gates” was made as the African Americans answer to the Birth of a Nation. Trotter is seen as the first attempts of civil rights movement.