'Within Our Gates'

I can't imagine a film made in 1920 that depicted African Americans in a positive light being well responded to. The idea that it was played south of the Mason-Dixon line seems preposterous.

Of course living in the idiom that I've suffered through the last 30 years, imagining this film getting not regarded at all 90 years ago seems pretty obvious. And I think the director points this out.

It's not enough to not be racist, but to a point someone needed to do something about what was happening in this country. Instead, some threw money at the problem and others shrugged it off.

The travesty of a lynching and how graphically the filmmaker made that scene would send chills down your spine. It's not comfortable and as much as the point was to change the minds of a bunch of hillbillies in Alabama, this film was made for the rich northerner who thinks good things and money tend to fix intra-cultural issues.