in the wake of the lynching of leo frank in marietta, there was a mounted torch wielding, night sheeted riders were the invention of the filmmaker griffith in his blockbuster movie the birth of a nation. when the film was screened in atlanta in 1915 it was the quote unquote new klan that imitated the film. the first sheet riders came out and watched the film and that is when the pointed hats and masks came about. that is out of griffith's imagination. that rebirth of the ku klux klan was still three years in the future in 1912. it is impossible the terrorism was the work of white sheeted klan's men. i found a letter written by 80-year-old reese may jordan after a lot of searching and suddenly there was something significant. she was a 14-year-old girl in 1912 and a classmate of may crows. she wrote about the night of the funeral it wasn't the klan that did this. it was just the ordinary people of the country. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. [inaudible conversations] all right. well the intro happened already but thank you for coming out and seeing this gre

the lynching of leo frank and marietta, you will hear in a minute, i learned the torch wielding night riders i always envisioned as a kid, where the invention of phil maker dw griffith in his movie the birth of a nation. when the film was screened in atlanta in 1915, it was the, quote, new clan, the modern clan, rather than the other way around, came out and watched the film and that is when the clan had masks and crosses and all that. that came out of dw griffith's imagination but that rebirth of the ku klux klan is three years in the future in 1912 and simply impossible the campaign of terrorism, the work of white sheeted klansman. who then were the persons unknown responsible to purge. ruth jordan is another of those

speaking of atlanta there are people who know the story, right, in the wake of lynching with leo frank. . . so, the first night she did night riders, cannot watch the film and that's when the pointy hats and masks happened. but, that rebirth of the ku klux klan was still three years in the future in 1912, so it's simply impossible that the campaign of terrorism. who then were the the persons unknown responsible for the purge? i found a letter written by 80-year old reese jordan after a lot of searching when suddenly there is something significant. he would-- she was a 14-year old girl in 1912 and had been a classmate of may crow and at the end of her letter after recalling how all hell broke loose on the night of the funeral, jordan wrote, it was the klan done this, it was just ordinary people of the county. >> you can watch this and other programs online on a book tv.org

in the wake of the lynching of leo frank in marietta and there are a number of intersections between the story you will hear in a minute , i learned that the torch wielding white sheeted night riders i'd also always envisioned as a kid were actually the invention of film maker dw brett. in his blockbuster movie the birth of a nation. when the film was screened in atlanta in 1915, it was the new clan, the modern clan, that imitated the film rather than the other way around so the first white sheeted night riders came out and watched the film and that's the point at which the masks and the crosses and all of that, that comes out of dw griffith and adulation. but that rebirth of the ku klux klan was still three years in the future in 1912 and so it is simply impossible that the campaign of terrorism in forsyth was the work of white sheeted klansman. who then were those persons unknown responsible for the purge? i found a letter written by ruth mae jordan, another one of those eureka moments after a lot of searching when suddenly there's something significant. ruth was a 14-year-old girl

. >> in the wake of the lynching of leo frank in marietta, and there are a number of intersections between the story and the lynching of leo frank, i learned that the white-sheeted night riders i'd always envisioned as a kid were the invention of d.w. griffith in his blockbuster movie, "the birth of a nation." when the film was screening in