|
Thomas Frederick Dixon, Jr. (January 11, 1864 – April 3, 1946) was a Southern Baptist minister, playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author, perhaps best known for writing ''The Clansman'' — which was to become the inspiration for D. W. Griffith's film, ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915). He was a prominent supporter of the Republican Party and donor to Theodore Roosevelt's campaign for Mayor of New York.〔 ==Early years== He was born in Shelby, North Carolina, the son of Thomas Jeremiah Frederick Dixon and Amanda Elvira McAfee. His father was a wealthy landowner of English and Scottish descent, and Baptist minister. As a young man, Dixon Sr. inherited a large number of slaves and property from his first wife's father. Thomas J. F. Dixon I, while not an abolitionist, did not want to own slaves himself. At one point he was offered US $100,000 (today roughly $5,000,000) for his slaves, but he declined the offer, worried that their new owner might mistreat them.〔Cook, ''Thomas Dixon'' pp. 21-22; Gillespie, ''Thomas Dixon, Jr., and the Birth of Modern America''.〕 In his adolescence Dixon helped out on the family farms, an experience that he hated, but that he later would say helped him to relate to the plight of the working man.〔Cook, ''Thomas Dixon'', p. 23; Gillespie, ''Thomas Dixon Jr. and the Birth of Modern America''.〕 Dixon grew up during Reconstruction following the Civil War. The government confiscation of farm land, the corruption of local politicians, and particularly the vengefulness of Federal troops coupled with the general lawlessness of the time all helped to shape young Dixon into a staunch opponent of what he called one of history's greatest tragedies.〔Cook, ''Thomas Dixon'', pp. 22-27.〕 Dixon claimed that one of his earliest memories was of a woman who pleaded for his family's help. She was the widow of a Confederate soldier who served under Dixon's uncle, Col. Leroy McAfee. She claimed that a black man had raped her daughter. That night the Ku Klux Klan hanged and repeatedly shot the alleged rapist in the town square.〔Cook, ''Thomas Dixon'', p. 23.〕 Dixon's mother commented to him that "The Klan are our people—they're guarding us from harm."〔Roberts, p. 202.〕 It was a moment that etched itself into Dixon's memory; he felt that the Klan's actions were justified, and that desperate times called for desperate measures. Dixon's father, Thomas Dixon, Sr., and his uncle Leroy McAfee, both joined the Ku Klux Klan early in its history with the aim of "bringing order" to the tumultuous times, and Col. McAfee even attained the rank of Chief of the Klan of the Piedmont area of North Carolina.〔 But, after witnessing the corruption and scandal involved in the Klan they would both dissolve their affiliation with the group and attempt to disband it within their region.〔Cook, ''Thomas Dixon'', p. 25; Gillespie, ''Thomas Dixon Jr. and the Birth of Modern America''〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Dixon, Jr.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|