The Birth of a Nation
"The Fiery Cross of the Ku Klux Klan!"
Cast & Crew
Lillian Gish
as Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Mae Marsh
as Flora Cameron
Henry B. Walthall
as Col. Ben Cameron
Miriam Cooper
as Margaret Cameron
Mary Alden
as Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia
Ralph Lewis
as Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman
George Siegmann
as Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch
Walter Long
as Gus
Robert Harron
as Tod
D.W. Griffith
Director
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.
