Ang, Desmond2022-08-042022-07Ang, Desmond. "The Birth of a Nation: Media and Racial Hate." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP20-038, July 2022.1556-5068https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37372941This paper documents the impact of popular media on racial hate by examining the first American blockbuster: 1915’s The Birth of a Nation, a fictional portrayal of the KKK’s founding rife with racist stereotypes. Exploiting the film’s five-year "roadshow", I find a sharp spike in lynchings and race riots coinciding with its arrival in a county. Instrumenting for roadshow destinations using the location of theaters prior to the movie's release, I show that the film significantly increased local Klan support in the 1920s. Roadshow counties continue to experience higher rates of hate crimes and hate groups a century later.en-USResearch Paper or Report2022-08-0410.2139/ssrn.3740907