Often Banned Movie Did Not Sway College

"Birth of Nation" was a propaganda dud.

"I cannot believe the evidence reveals any harmful effects flowing from this showing," Peter Rossi, professor of Social Relations, who polled 534 students at the nearly-banned showing concluded last night.

"In fact," poll results show, "there was considerable evidence that opposition to the film's showing on the part of any group would have boomeranged against that group's purpose."

The Boston NAACP, which had banned the film in the past, did not protest the showing on orders from president Lionel Lindsay. Afterwards, however, the group's executive board reversed Lindsay's dictum and protested the exhibition to President Conant. It was the film's first public exhibition in the Boston area since 1916, when it caused bloody riots at midtown theatres.

Propaganda Boomerang

Students thought well of the film as an example of movie technique the poll results said, but disapproved it content. "They were aware of its bias," Rossi said, "and discounted the message it contained. The crudity of the propaganda even boomeranged for a large section of the audience, who whistled and jeered and generally thought it a farce."

Of the 534 students answering the poll, a "very small group" approved of the anti-Negro message.