Thomas Dixon Jr. And the Birth of Modern America

by Gillespie, Michele K.; Hall, Randal L.

• ISBN13: 9780807131305
• ISBN10: 080713130X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-15
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr

Summary

"Thomas Dixon, Jr. (1864-1946) is best remembered today as the author of the racist novels that served as the basis for D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 classic film The Birth of a Nation. But in his lifetime, Dixon also enjoyed great renown as a minister, lecturer, lawyer, and actor. And although the native southerner's blatant racist, chauvinist, and white supremacist views are abhorrent today, at the time they found enthusiastic reception among his audiences throughout the country. This book explains why. Distinguished scholars of religion, film, literature, music, history, and gender studies offer a provocative examination of Dixon's ideas, personal life, and career and in the process illuminate the evolution of white racism in the early twentieth century and its legacy down to the present." "The contributors analyze Dixon's sermons, books, plays, and films, seeking to understand the appeal of his message within the white culture of the Progressive era. They also explore the critical responses of Dixon's African American contemporaries."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Introduction	2	(21)
Thomas Dixon: American Proteus	23	(23)
W. FITZHUGH BRUNDAGE
"My Books Are Hard Reading for a Negro": Tom Dixon and His African American Critics, 1905-1939	46	(34)
JOHN DAVID SMITH
Gender and Race in Dixon's Religious Ideology	80	(25)
CYNTHIA LYNN LYERLY
"Ours Is a Century of Light": Dixon's Strange Consistency	105	(19)
DAVID STRICKLIN
Thomas Dixon and the Literary Production of Whiteness	124	(27)
SCOTT ROMINE
Thomas Dixon and Race Melodrama	151	(13)
JANE M. GAINES
The Cinematic Representation of Race in The Birth of a Nation: A Black Horror Film	164	(19)
CHARLENE REGESTER
Do Movies Have Rights?	183	(20)
LOUIS MENAND
Epilogue: The Enduring Worlds of Thomas Dixon	203	(8)
WILLIAM A. LINK
Appendix A: Thomas Dixon Jr.'s Selected Publications	211	(2)
Appendix B: Thomas Dixon Jr.'s Films	213	(2)
Contributors	215	(2)
Index	217