Margaret Mitchell backed black civil rights secretly

Apr 20, 2011

Recently, Elaine and I watched an “American Masters” program on Channel 13. It was about Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone with the Wind.” It was fascinating in many ways, but I will get to that shortly.

First, some memories. The book was published in 1936 and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The film version came out in late 1939 and received seven Academy Awards. Making allowance for inflation, the film, at three hours 44 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission, has been the highest grossing American film of all time. The book itself quickly sold 1 million copies, at the high price for those days of $3 a copy. It was more than 1,000 pages in length. read more