FSU kicks off Black History Month celebrations with showing of rare film – FSView & Florida Flambeau

Black face and violent stereotypes of African American men were essential elements of D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation,” which premiered in 1915 to a widely receptive audience. It was considered America’s first blockbuster and gained the attention of President Woodrow Wilson, who had a private showing of the film at the White House. 
The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded in 1916 by brothers Nobel and George Johnson in direct response to “Birth of a Nation” to provide positive portrayals of African Americans in film at a time when it was desperately needed— the Klu Klux Klan in Omaha, Neb., where the Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded, was revitalized after “Birth of a Nation” was released. It was the first film company to be black owned and run.
Lincoln Motion Pictures’ last and most successful movie was their fifth film, “By Right of Birth” (1921). The film is a slapstick comedy that portrayed African Americans in a way that was accessible and humanizing, a stark contrast to media produced by white people at the time. 
To kick off FSU’s Black History Month celebrations, FSU’s Civil Rights Institute, the College of Social Work, student agencies and the owners of Lincoln Motion Picture’s archives, the Montague Collection, collaborated to show “By Right of Birth” to FSU students and faculty this past Monday at the SLC. 
“‘Birth of a Nation’ did such an effective job at debasing the image of African Americans,” FSU Civil Rights Institute director Ted Ellis said. “We need to see everyone as an asset and not framed in the shape of a liability. That’s when society excels and does better.”
Lincoln Motion Pictures’ archives have faced preservation issues, and the films are rarely shown. “By Right of Birth” offers a rare and unique glimpse into black history and an early era of cinema and the invaluable contributions African Americans have made to the arts.
For Cedric Jones, the leading curator for The Montague Collection, the most impactful element of the film is not its content but the courage it took for the Johnson brothers to create positive representations for African Americans at a time when it was rare and potentially dangerous to do so. 
“They came together and said they were going to start a company and produce films— not just one, but five,” Jones said. “They made sure that they had someone responsible for each part of each part of the operation.”
The film’s content is fragmented and cut short from its original feature length. Even still, audience members were impressed by the skill it took to make it in the first place. 
“I was really looking at the technology,” Doby Flowers, co-founder of the FSU Civil Rights Institute said. “I didn’t get much into the story itself, but I was fascinated by how they made the scene without all of the fancy things.” 
Since “By Right of Birth” is a direct response to “Birth of a Nation,” many audience members drew connections to how negative portrayals of African Americans have evolved. 
“We still, in many cases, see very negative portrayals of black people in film,” Flowers said. “In terms of the ability to tell a narrative, we certainly have more ability to tell our stories in the way we see it, and sometimes that’s negative as well.”
Threats to diversity, equity and inclusion (D.E.I.) in Florida and nationwide have been rampant, particularly within colleges and universities. Florida barred allocating state funds to D.E.I. initiatives in public colleges in 2023, and other states nationwide have taken similar measures to follow suit. 
The Montague Collection has a wealth of black history and allows local students to engage with diverse perspectives outside the classroom. Especially during black history month, there is a sense of urgency around spotlighting local resources like this. 
“It’s important that institutions like Florida State University and FAMU see the value of [black history] and bring programming that allows it to get the traction that it needs to,” Ellis said.  
Students at the event echoed this sentiment. 
“[The movie] shed light on something that a lot of students including myself had no idea existed in Tallahassee,” FSU media and communications graduate student Jordan Brown said. “There are so many things that the Montague collection has that deserve to see the light of day but haven’t gotten that attention.” 
Although Lincoln Motion Pictures did not last very long, closing after the production of “By Right of Birth,” their work still stands the test of time. It provides a beacon of hope for creatives who are forced to make art under harsh and violent circumstances like the Johnson brothers were. 
“Usually, you don’t see black people from the early days in comedy, that is wholesome,” Brown said. “It wasn’t comedy at the expense of their race, it was just purely slapstick.”

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Gilliam Nii Lighter

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