
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
This silent film does much more than make people think, it revolutionized an entirely new way of movie-making. Despite all of the praise, The Birth of a Nation is incredibly racist. Most of the actors are portrayed as uncivilized and aggressive. Author Ellen Scott of Cinema Civil Rights said, “This film depicts lynching as a positive thing,” she says. “The politics of the film was essentially to say certain black people are worthy of being lynched. In that sense, it’s extremely racist.” Some believe it was the most racist movie ever made (via BBC).