VOL. LV. “AND YE SHALL KNOW THETBUTH. AND THE TRUTH SHALL 7 CHARLOTTE, BATTERING DOWN TIE BARRIERS OF PREJUDICE Stirring Chapters from the 25* Year History of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NO. 18. FIGHTING VICIOUS FILMS, j For twenty years the Nation al Association for the Advance ment of Colored people has waged an unremitting and de termined fight on moying pic tures holding the Negri up to ridicule or calur* ;ji, distorting and falsifying the facts of his tory to Ujjfc detriment of the race, and 'Cxalting subversive and anti-social organizations, like the Ku Klux jttan, present ing programs calculated to crush the hopeg and aspirations of colored people and increase race hatred and proscription. The most vicious of these moving picture dramas “The Birth of a Nation,” presented the Civil War and the Recon struction Period from the view point of the Confederacy and depicted the Negro as a rapist., Even before this picture wag shown anywhere, the Associa tion fought its presentation. It has been doing so with marked success ever siu:o. In April, 1915, colored citizens of Boston were refused tickets to the first showing of “The Birth of a Nation.” They persist ed and eleven were arrested but later discharged. On May 2nd, the Boston Branch staged a mass meeting in Tremont Tem ple protesting against this pho toplay. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Dr. Samuel McChord Crothers and other distinguished speak took part. This campaign fdr the City of Boston, but p£te newly appointed censors re fused to prohibit the film. At the succeeding city elec tion three city counsellors who opposed the film were re-elect ed by large majorities. The Mayor of Quincy, who favored it, was defeated. State Senator Doyle who was unusually of fensive was badly beaten at the primaries. Lawrencte, Springfield, West Spnrgfield, Everett ami Chelsea icfised exhibkon permit tc t .e film while the State Chief w'thbeld license for any Sunday exhibition in Massachusetts. This vigorous campaign of the N. A. A. C. P. brought thous ands of friends to its assistance. The film was also fought in New Bedford, Mass., and Providence, R. I., and a score of other cities, and during the same year it was egged in New York. The Albuquerque, N. IVf.. Branch kept the film out of its city, as did the Branches in Philadelphia, Tacomia, 'iWash., Toledo, 0., Topeka, Kan., Wil mington, Del., Gary, Ind., and Columbus, 0. Branches that succeeded in having objectiona-1 ble scenes removed from the film were Des Moines, Iowa, De troit, Mich., Kansas City, Mo., Orange, N. J., and Springfield, Ohio. The Columbus, Ohio, Branch succeeded in having the film excluded from the entire State of Ohio, and the Topeka Branch accomplished the same thing for Kansas. So much for the single year T915. Everywhere Negroes ral lied to the campaign against; "The Birth of a Nation” ancfc other films of similar nature, like "Free and Equal” and "The Clansman." Because so much hostility was aroused < against them, they were with drawn in many parts of the country and no further attempt was made for some time to show them. The Association had to renew its campaign in 1918. The Lou isville, Ky., and Gary, Ind., Branches prevented showings, | while the Lincoln, Neb., Spring* held, Mo., Log Angeles, Calif., and Washington, Pa., Branches had objectionable portions of both “The Birth of a Nation” and “Free and Equal” removed before exhibition. In October, 1918, the Nation al Office addressed letters to the Governors of all States and to the State Councils of Defense, asking that they use the power of. their offices to prevent the films being shown. It pointed cut their vicious character and cited their harmful effects on national morale. Governor Jas. M. Cox, of Ohio, barred “The Birth of a Nation” again from the State. It was also kept out cf West Virginia, Kansas, Cal ifornia, North Carolina, Ken tucky nd Alaska. Favorable re plies were received from other Governors and Councils of De fense, promising action should the film appear in thqpr States. During the year the Hanr tramck, Mich., and the River side, Calif., Branches blocked showings of “The Birth of a Nation” and “The Clansman.” On May 6, 1921, the film was shown at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The Theatre was promptly picketed by a number of overseas veterans in uniform and three women A. E. F., Y. W. C. A. workers who distributed N. A. A. C. P, leaf lets. describing- the wieions ac tivities of the Ku Klux Klin. These leaflets were eagerly accepted by the public. This method of ' protesting against “The Birth of a Nation” was re sorted to after vain protests had been made to the theatre manager and the city officials to halt its presentation. Although there was no disor der, five of the pickets, includ ing three colored women, were arrested. The magistrate offered to dismiss the charges against them if they would cease their picketing. They declined, through their attorneys, Aiken A. Pope and James C. Thomas, Jr., to do this. They were found guilty and given suspended sen tences. An appeal was taken and the decision of the lower court was reversed by the Court of General Sessions, Judge Alfred J. Talley declaring that, “they were well within their rights.” The case aroused jwide atten tion and was hailed as a victory for freedom of speech. Through action taken in 1921 by Attorney E. Burton Ceruti, legal advisor of the Los Ange les Branch of the Association, the showing of “The Birth of a Nation” was stopped in that city and in the entire State of California. On May 16, 1921, the day on which this film was to have been shown in Boston, Mayor Peters suspended the license of the Shubert Theatre, acting upon r&ommendation jof the Board of Censors which had received vigorous protests from the As sociation’s Boston Branch. On November 24, 1922, New York newspapers again an nounced that “The Birth of a Nation” would be shown during the week beginning December i 4th. The National office prompt ly got in touch with Alderman. George H. Harris and a cam paign was started to prevent the showing of the film. Telegrams of protest were sent to all city, State and mbvie officials con cerned; A formal protest was filed with the Censorship Com mission. At^the public hearing held on December 2nd, the As sociation was represented by Arthur B. Spingarn, Chairman of the Legal Committee, Wal ter White, the Assistant Secre tary, and Herbert J. SeKgmann, the Director of Publicity, After a four-four discussion in which David Wark Griffith, Thomas Dixon and their attorneys, and representatives of the theatre participated, the hearing was adjourned to December 4th for presentation of evidence that showing the film elsewhere had caused public disorders. Thi the Association did. As a result the Censorship Commission viewed the film and made num erous eliminations, furnishing the N. A. A. C. P. with a de tailed list of the cuts ordered. During 1925, exhibition of “The Birth of a Nation” was legally forbidden in two States and several cities. In West Vir ginia,. colored citizens, headed by T. G. Nutter, President of the Charleston Branch and W. W. Saunders, Vice-President of the Branch and State Super visor of Negro Schools, protest ed to the Mayor against exhi bition of the film. The fight was carried through the Court of Common Pleas and the Circuit Court, up to the State Supreme Court, which forbade showing of the film in th& State of West Virginia. In Ohio the Supreme Court, on complaint of the Association, rendered a second time a decis ion barring the film from being shown in that State. Through the action of the N. A. A. A. C. P. Branch in Hart ford, Conn., the Mayor ordered two theatres where “The Birth of a Nation” was being shown to exhibit some other picture. AIthough “The Birth x)f a Na titon” had been barred from Kansas by Governor (now U. S. Senator) Arthur Capper in 1915, its producers sought to exhibit it again in 1931. A protest by the Topeka Branch to Mayor Omar B. Ketchum brought in structions to the Chief of Police to arrest the theatre owner if the film was shown. A tempor ary restraining order was ob* tamed by the theatre owner in a District Court against the city of Topeka. At the request of the local branch, the National Of" fice telegraphed Governor Har ry H. Woodring, who replied that attorneys for the film com pany had promised the film would not be exhibited in Kan sas pending reinspection by the Board of Review, and that he wag convinced it was best that it be not shown. On November 9 the Board of Review, after reinspection, voted not to ap prove the film for exhibition in Kansas. The Governor wrote to the National Office that this ac tion met with approval. During this same year prompt action on the part of the N. A. A. C. P. Branches pre vented the exhibition of “The Birth of a Nation” in St. Paul, Minn., Detroit, Mich., Philadel phia, Pa., Omaha, Neb., and Montclair and Jersey City, New Jersey. The (Mayor of Rosede, N. J., forced elimination of ob jectionable passages from the film after protest by the local Branch. Thus in twenty years the As sociation has been able to have “The Birth of a Nation” and similar films permanently barred from the States of Cali fornia, Kansas, Ohio and West Virginia, and from the numer ous cities mentioned above This persistent warfare on these vicioujs, anti-Negro photoplay^ carried on often at considerable expense, has resulted in prac tically eliminating them from the American scene. Both Thomas Dixon, author of “The Birth of a Nation," and David Wark Griffith, its producer, recently admitted that they were bankrupt. AN IDEAL RURAL CENTER By Dr. Kelly Miller I have jhst taken a knee-deep dip into Ge