The Most Important Works of Art in American History (opens in new tab)

1. The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith (film, 1915)Racist, “Lost Cause,” Klan-glorifying propaganda, it was also the birth of modern filmmaking. “Thoroughly pernicious, but tremendously important … establishing the importance of film and helping to shape national consciousness about Reconstruction,” said University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson.T-2. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (poetry, 1855)“Here are the roughs and beards and space and ruggedness and nonchalance that the soul...