Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent epic film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It was adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play The Clansman and chronicles two families through the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Its first public showing was on the 1st and the 2nd of January, 1915, at the Loring Opera House in Riverside, California.
The film portrays African Americans as unintelligent and sexually aggressive, with many black characters played by white actors in blackface. It depicts the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force that protects white women and defends white supremacy. University of Houston historian Steven Mintz summarizes its message as asserting that Reconstruction was a disaster, that African Americans could never be integrated as equals, and that Klan violence was justified.
The Birth of a Nation was screened at the White House in the East Room on the 18th of February, 1915. It was attended by President Woodrow Wilson, members of his family, and his Cabinet. Both Thomas Dixon and D. W. Griffith were present. Wilson and Dixon had been fellow graduate students at Johns Hopkins University, and Wilson is quoted by name in the film's title cards.
The exact gross is disputed. Griffith's own records put worldwide earnings at approximately five point two million dollars as of 1919, while film historian Richard Schickel estimated the film generated more than sixty million dollars in box office receipts during its first run. A 2015 estimate placed its adjusted value at approximately one point eight billion dollars. It was the highest-grossing film in history until Gone with the Wind overtook it in 1939.
In November 1915, William Joseph Simmons revived the Klan in Atlanta, Georgia, holding a cross burning at Stone Mountain, only a few months after the film's release. Historian John Hope Franklin observed that the Klan might not have been reborn without the film. A 2023 study in the American Economic Review found that roadshow screenings were associated with a sharp spike in lynchings and race riots between 1915 and 1920.
The Birth of a Nation pioneered dramatic close-ups, fade-outs, tracking shots, parallel action sequences, and crosscutting. It was the first non-serial American twelve-reel film and the first American-made film with a musical score written for an orchestra. It also used color tinting for dramatic effect and staged battle sequences with hundreds of extras made to appear like thousands. In 1992, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.