The Birth of a Nation

Plot Summary

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Top Cast

Lillian Gish Stoneman's Daughter Elsie

Mae Marsh Flora Cameron

Henry B. Walthall Col. Ben Cameron

Miriam Cooper Margaret Cameron

Mary Alden Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia