Thomas Dixon Jr.

Thomas Dixon Jr.
Born
Thomas Frederick Dixon Jr.

(1864-01-11)January 11, 1864
DiedApril 3, 1946(1946-04-03) (aged 82)
Alma materWake Forest College
Johns Hopkins University
Greensboro Law School
Occupations
  • Minister
  • lecturer
  • writer
Notable workThe Leopard's Spots
The Clansman (source of The Birth of a Nation)
StyleHistorical romance
MovementLost Cause of the Confederacy
Spouse(s)Harriet Bussey (1886–1937)
Madelyn Donovan (1939–1946)
Children3
RelativesAmzi Clarence Dixon

Thomas Frederick Dixon Jr. (January 11, 1864 – April 3, 1946) was an American Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, lecturer, writer, and filmmaker. Dixon wrote two best-selling novels, The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden—1865–1900 (1902) and The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905), that romanticized Southern white supremacy, endorsed the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, opposed equal rights for black people, and glorified the Ku Klux Klan as heroic vigilantes. Film director D. W. Griffith adapted The Clansman for the screen in The Birth of a Nation (1915). The film inspired the creators of the 20th-century rebirth of the Klan.