On 22 December 1916, the Waterloo Evening Courier rolled off the presses and into Waterloo’s coffee shops, neighborhood pubs, churches, and homes. Along with the daily dose of local news and information about the war in Europe, readers found the first of a series of advertisements for the showing of "Birth of a Nation" at the Waterloo Twice Daily Theater, starting on 2 January 1916. The advertisement promised a mammoth spectacle that included scenes from the Civil War, the burning of Atlanta, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
For the nearly 395 Waterloo African-Americans citizens, the nightmare they had watched unfold in other cities and towns and had hoped would spare their small town had arrived. Confronted with what to do, the Waterloo African-American community turned to the newly established Antioch Baptist Memorial Church and Bess A. M. E. Church. Both churches not only provided an opportunity for residents to worship, they also furnished a forum for discussion of community issues and acted as a liaison with the white community.
In 1913, the Reverends Samuel S. Bates, J. H. Reynolds, and Burton organized Antioch Baptist church. Later that year, R. A. Broyles was ordained the church’s first pastor. The older of the two churches, Bess A. M. E. Memorial, was first established in the spring of 1912. The church’s first minister was I. W. Bess, who had preached in Galesburg, Illinois. The church was first named Bess’s Chapel A.M.E. Church, but later changed to honor the national church’s sixth leader.
When the Reverend Bess arrived in Waterloo in 1912, the city was experiencing a spree of criminal activity. African Americans were facing jail time and receiving fines for crimes such as operating or being an inmate of a disorderly house, disturbing the peace, soliciting or street walking, gambling, and bootlegging. With an increase in crime came hostility from many white residents toward African Americans. Letters appeared in the Waterloo Courier and the Waterloo Times Tribune on what many whites viewed as a growing threat to their peaceful and stable way of life. In 18 September 1913, the Waterloo Courier printed an article, called the "Waterloo Negro Problem." The article’s writer addressed the increase of Waterloo’s African-American population within a few short years and claimed that the black population harbored gun toters, razor fighters, booze peddlers, and freeloaders. The piece ended with the observation that not all local African Americans deserved to be censured by the unlawful acts of a few. On 31 July 1913, a writer wrote an article for the Waterloo Times Tribune entitled "The Bad Nigger Here." The writer expressed his concern for what he viewed as a dozen or so Negroes causing problems. The letter also referred to "Smoky Row," an area where Waterloo’s African Americans lived, as a menace to the city. He ended the article by insisting the "bad nigger" should be driven out of Waterloo and warned against the "bad niggers" as potential threats to white women. Racist letters and articles, such as these, only increased problems between the two races.
The leadership of the Reverend Bess and other African Americans within the community slowly began to turn around the negative image of blacks. Within the "Triangle," the area on the East Side where the majority of African Americans were restricted to live, residents began building homes and stores and organizing social clubs. During his short time in Waterloo, the Reverend Bess quickly became a leading voice, earning the respect of both blacks and whites. In May of 1914, when the city council prohibited African Americans from bathing on a municipal beach, the Reverend Bess charged that the town’s legislative body could not bar African Americans from bathing in the Cedar River. He also reminded the politicians, "Waterloo is too far north to maintain such racial discrimination." It was Pastor Bess who began the fight against the showing of "Birth of a Nation" in Waterloo.
Because of the Reverend Bess’s and the community’s hard work, race relations between white and black residents had improved by 1914. Therefore, when the film arrived in 1916 many Waterloo African-American leaders felt that "Birth of a Nation," which portrayed African Americans in a negative manner, would only damage the fragile harmony of the races. Having read of the riots that had resulted in other cities from African-Americans protest, Bess concluded this was not the best method for Waterloo. It is unclear why Pastor Bess did not publicly lead the protest against the film but instead chose to relinquish public responsibility to G. W. Collins, president of the Young Men’s Sunday Club of the A. M. E. Church. In December 1915, Collins delivered a petition to Waterloo Mayor R. C. Thompson requesting that the city cancel the permit it had granted for "Birth of a Nation" to be played in the Waterloo Theater. Collins argued that the film, based on the play "The Klan’s Man" and written by the Reverend Tom Dixon, was only meant to "intensify the prejudice and strife between the two races." He also believed the movie would result in white mob violence against African Americans. The petition concluded with a plea for the mayor to consider the improved race relations and the advances Waterloo’s African Americans had made:
The races in Waterloo today are at peace, and harmony prevails. Our people have jobs and are working every day and supporting their families. We trust that you will place in this matter with the other cities of our country that have barred this play in order that their citizens might be protected from the fiery darts of prejudice and slander by this wolf in sheep’s clothing.
