Birth of a Nation

[Elok]

If every slave actually got forty acres, bearing in mind how many slaves there were...well, the government would have to give up about three states' worth of land at the very least. I don't think the average southern plantation was much more than forty acres, and each one of those had dozens of slaves working it. Not to mention small household slaves. The land couldn't have been given.

[MrFun]

But keep in mind that there were a few areas where land compensation was implemented -- but in the end, the land was retaken, or possessed by the state governments as new public lands to resell.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
How odd it must be for a person in Maryland, since Maryland was officially neutral, and right there.

Are you kidding? Maryland was made to be neutral by the virtue of federal troops marching on Annapolis. The war riots in Baltimore in 1861 rivaled the draft riots in New York City in 1864. For awhile it was necessary for Federal officials travelling to and from Washington to bypass Baltimore because of the danger. Even the troops bound for their assembly points prior to Bull Run had to detour around Baltimore.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Elok
If every slave actually got forty acres, bearing in mind how many slaves there were...well, the government would have to give up about three states' worth of land at the very least. I don't think the average southern plantation was much more than forty acres, and each one of those had dozens of slaves working it. Not to mention small household slaves. The land couldn't have been given.

40 acres and a mule.

five million freed slaves. Half of whom were men, and not all of who were adults. Let's say two million Black freedmen.

That's 80 million acres. That's doable.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Flubber


My understanding was that the origin was a small group that thought it would be fun to scare some of the superstitious local black folks and "put them in their place". The origins were pretty much a bunch of guys on a lark ( with about as much forethought and deeper meaning as the average modern college prank) as I understand it.

It soon evolved into a " white protection" movement and then into an instrument of violence.

Actually it was founded as a sort of college "fraternity" in Murfreesboro, Tenneessee. The good ol' boys soon hit on the notion of using their white sheet disguises to scare blacks, and then to intimidate troublemakers, like those who thought that they could leave their old plantations or buy their own land.

Sadly I must admit that some of my ancestors were among the founders.

I'd like to see a remake of "Birth of a Nation", but have the film changed to portray the reality of history.

D. W. Griffith wasn't really a hard-core biggot. After making BoaN his next film was a piece about biggotry called "Intolerance". He was misled by lies passed down from generation to generation, so it would be cool to remake his masterpiece to reflect the truth.