S7 E8: The unbearable authenticity of Kojo T Houenou, the francophone Marcus Garvey

To close this third season, whose frequency of episodes has been somewhat disturbed by the writing of the book on African pioneers, I would like to tell you about an article, that was published in the New York Times in August 1923, which dealt with the movie “ The Birth of a Nation ” by D. W Griffiths released in 1915. A technically groundbreaking film, the first film shot in the White House, but terribly racist, described by some as the most racist film in the history of cinema. Incidentally a great box office success in its time.

Why did France, which was also responsible of inhuman exploitation in its colonies, ban a film that paid tribute to white superiority?