The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Overview: Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. 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.

Starring: Henry B. Walthall, Lillian Gish, Miriam Cooper, Mae Marsh

Categories: Drama, History, War