"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

@gavman: Yep, that’s what it is. I hope you didn’t jump to the conclusion that my wanting to see Birth Of A Nation implies I agree with the sentiments it espouses! Does wanting to see a Nazi propaganda film make one a Nazi-sympathizer? Not necessarily.

In the book This Wheel’s On Fire---co-written by Levon Helm and Stephen Davis---Levon tells the story of The Hawks having a couple days off between shows in 1965, and as they were near the town in which they knew Sonny Boy Williamson lived (Helena Arkansas, where Levon was raised), they thought they would see if they could find him. They did, and ended up spending several hours playing music with him.

The fun ended when a couple of law enforcement officers showed up, asking what the Hell was going on. The Hawks were told to pack up and get out of town. That story was also told in abbreviated fashion in The Last Waltz. All The Hawks save Levon were Canadians, and hadn’t witnessed that degree of racism. Seeing Birth Of A Nation will---I’m guessing---provide context for me to understand the racism I witnessed in my own family. As the FBI agent in charge in the movie Mississippi Burning asks: "Where does this hatred come from"?

 "Where does this hatred come from"?

Unfortunately, it's taught.

There is nothing innate about racism.

There are no winners in Wars, only Losers.  The American Civil War was a war where the Civilian Population was targeted to suffer, because doing so hastened the end of the war.  The North still had the moral high ground, as Slavery needed to be ended, but once the likes of Sherman and Sheridan figured out that making War on Civilians would cause desertions from the Southern Armies, and therefore felt that inflicting this pain could be justified as legitimate, a lot of bad things happened.    Most Southerners who fought were to poor to own slaves.  They were persuaded by their leaders and their  society they lived in that it was noble for them to give up their lives so that Southern Aristocrats could enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices.  I always viewed the narrator of this song as one of those duped white teenagers who  gets to live the horrors of war and is witnessing of the demise of his world, and is caught in forces not of his own making

Birth of a Nation is an important watch if you value cinematic history in regard to the development of techniques still used to this day.

The black and white depiction of the Civil War betrays our desire for easy answers. Most northerners did not fight to end slavery. Racism was ingrained d

nationwide due to scientific, cultural, and religious justifications. The implications and inheritance of such  systemic rationalizations unfortunately still exist. I appreciate the song in question as a lament and enjoy the discussion to its meanings.  I wonder if there were any songs rueing the fall of the Roman Empire?

Or the "1000 year Reich"...