Reconstruction policies proved to be the seeds of failure in American race relations
             in the 19th century. Reconstruction demanded the Negroes freedom, their civil rights, the
             opportunity for economic freedom, education and the right to vote. This idea of Negro
             equality was the most controversial aspect of radical reconstruction, and violence was one
             of the means used to undermine Reconstruction. Racism and violence have proved to be
             interrelated factors in American society. In the words of W.E.B. Du Bois "The slave went
             free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery."
             The Southern whites ideology expressed certain propositions about the black man
             in society. The abolition of slavery ended the institution but not the system of beliefs,
             assumptions, and values they held concerning the Negro. Within the context of this white
             supremacist ideology, racism flourished. The black man was viewed as being part of a
             caste system where they were relegated to the bottom of the social classes with no legal
             In the movie "The Birth of A Nation" the director, D.W. Griffith, interprets the
             social reality and justifying policies of the Southern white in the 19th century. The tone of
             the movie infers that blacks are inherently inferior and are incapable of appreciating the
             freedom given to them. We are introduced to images of the contented slave working complacently in the field, to the freedman who has been corrupted by the Scallywags and Carpetbaggers, to the comic Negro in his clownish clothes, dancing and performing and to the vicious Negro renegade who attacks a white woman. The contrast between the Negro and the Southern white is established not only by characterization but also by southern attitudes and mannerisms. Griffith is re-creating the southern ideal of what it meant to be part of a higher civilization with values and an outlook that shaped the sou...