The Birth of a Nation
E23441
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, notorious for its racist portrayal of African Americans, glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, and foundational role in both cinematic history and white supremacist propaganda.
All labels observed (6)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Birth of a Nation canonical | 32 |
| The Birth of a Nation (1915 film) | 2 |
| Birth of a Nation | 1 |
| The Birth of a Nation (2016 film) | 1 |
| The Birth of a Nation (novelization) | 1 |
| The Birth of a Nation: The Clansman | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T181594 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Birth of a Nation Context triple: [Lost Cause ideology, influencedWork, The Birth of a Nation]
-
A.
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind is a landmark 1939 American epic historical romance film set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, renowned for its grand scale, cultural impact, and enduring popularity.
-
B.
The Ten Commandments (1923 film)
The Ten Commandments (1923 film) is a silent epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille that combines a biblical dramatization of Moses receiving the commandments with a contemporary morality tale about their relevance in modern life.
-
C.
The King of Kings (1927 film)
The King of Kings (1927 film) is a silent biblical epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille that dramatizes the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
-
D.
Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 American drama film that confronts antisemitism in postwar America, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Celeste Holm.
-
E.
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer (1927 film) is a landmark American musical drama widely regarded as the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, marking the dawn of the sound era in cinema.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Birth of a Nation Target entity description: The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, notorious for its racist portrayal of African Americans, glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, and foundational role in both cinematic history and white supremacist propaganda.
-
A.
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind is a landmark 1939 American epic historical romance film set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction, renowned for its grand scale, cultural impact, and enduring popularity.
-
B.
The Ten Commandments (1923 film)
The Ten Commandments (1923 film) is a silent epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille that combines a biblical dramatization of Moses receiving the commandments with a contemporary morality tale about their relevance in modern life.
-
C.
The King of Kings (1927 film)
The King of Kings (1927 film) is a silent biblical epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille that dramatizes the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
-
D.
Gentleman's Agreement
Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 American drama film that confronts antisemitism in postwar America, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Celeste Holm.
-
E.
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer (1927 film) is a landmark American musical drama widely regarded as the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, marking the dawn of the sound era in cinema.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (55)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
American film
ⓘ
black-and-white film ⓘ feature film ⓘ film ⓘ silent film ⓘ |
| basedOn |
The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan
ⓘ
The Leopard's Spots ⓘ |
| basedOnAuthor | Thomas Dixon Jr. ⓘ |
| boxOffice | over $10 million worldwide (estimated) ⓘ |
| budget | approximately $110000 ⓘ |
| cinematographyBy | G. W. Bitzer ⓘ |
| colorProcess | black-and-white with some tinting ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| depictsEvent | assassination of Abraham Lincoln ⓘ |
| director | D. W. Griffith ⓘ |
| distributor | David W. Griffith Corp. ⓘ |
| era | silent era of cinema ⓘ |
| filmFormat | 35 mm ⓘ |
| genre |
historical drama film
ⓘ
propaganda film ⓘ war film ⓘ |
| historicalImpact |
influenced development of feature-length narrative cinema
ⓘ
sparked protests by civil rights organizations ⓘ used as recruitment tool by Ku Klux Klan ⓘ |
| musicBy | Joseph Carl Breil ⓘ |
| notableFor |
controversial racist content
ⓘ
innovative narrative film techniques ⓘ large-scale battle scenes ⓘ use of close-ups ⓘ use of cross-cutting ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | Silent film with English intertitles ⓘ |
| portrayalCharacterization |
depicts African Americans in racist stereotypes
ⓘ
glorifies the Ku Klux Klan ⓘ promotes white supremacist ideology ⓘ |
| portraysOrganization | Ku Klux Klan ⓘ |
| premiereLocation |
Shrine Auditorium
ⓘ
surface form:
Clune's Auditorium, Los Angeles
|
| producer |
D. W. Griffith
ⓘ
Harry Aitken ⓘ |
| productionCompany | Epoch Producing Corporation ⓘ |
| protestedBy | NAACP ⓘ |
| releaseDate | 1915-02-08 ⓘ |
| releaseYear | 1915 ⓘ |
| runningTime | approximately 190 minutes ⓘ |
| screenwriter |
D. W. Griffith
ⓘ
Frank E. Woods ⓘ |
| setDuring |
American Civil War
ⓘ
Reconstruction era ⓘ |
| stars |
George Siegmann
ⓘ
Henry B. Walthall ⓘ Lillian Gish ⓘ Mae Marsh ⓘ Miriam Cooper ⓘ Ralph Lewis ⓘ Walter Long ⓘ |
| subjectMatter | two white families during and after the American Civil War ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Birth of a Nation Description of subject: The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, notorious for its racist portrayal of African Americans, glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, and foundational role in both cinematic history and white supremacist propaganda.
Referenced by (38)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
The Birth of a Nation (2016 film)
this entity surface form:
Birth of a Nation
this entity surface form:
The Birth of a Nation (novelization)
this entity surface form:
The Birth of a Nation (1915 film)
this entity surface form:
The Birth of a Nation (1915 film)
this entity surface form:
The Birth of a Nation: The Clansman
subject surface form:
Silent film