Resolution adopted by Portland Black citizens, 1908

In 1908, Black citizens of Portland assembled at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church to propose a set of resolutions against the production of the play, The Clansman. The Clansman was adapted from the Thomas Dixon, Jr. book, The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Klu Klux Klan, and would later serve as a foundation for the 1915 D. W. Griffith film, The Birth of a Nation. Signatures were collected and submitted to the Mayor Henry Lane, who transmitted the resolutions to City Council. W.D. Allen, owner of the Golden West Hotel, served on the Committee of Resolutions at this time.

The local chapter of the NAACP organized another protest in 1915 against screening The Birth of a Nation. You can view that correspondence to Mayor Henry Russell Albee on Efiles here.

Click here to view the entire petition and correspondence on Efiles.