“A Nation Is Born”: Thomas Dixon's Vision of White Nationhood and His Northern Supporters

Abstract

Thomas Dixon, Jr. was a Southerner who wrote about South in his influential book, The Clansman (1905), and in many other racist articles and novels. Yet I hold that most ardent supporters of, and most significant publicists for, this racist demagogue were in North. Scholars like Alexander Saxton, Theodore Allen, and David R. Roediger have argued that white racism against nonwhites as well as white racial identity were ideologically constructed, especially in nineteenth century as nation began to define who were. Racial identities (and stereotypes) complemented each otherthere could not have been a white identity unless there was a nonwhite identity. Walter Benn Michaels, in particular, asserts that nation was constructed on foundation of white supremacy (366). Drawing upon these critical studies of whiteness, I assume that race was defined in conjunction with construction of American identity. I would also define American identity as emerging from and embedded in Southern identity. During post-Reconstruction period urban centers in North saw a surge in relocated Southerners, many of whom became successful in financial and industrial enterprises. The publishing industry, infiltrated by Southerners who had relocated to North, developed side by side with industrialization and began exerting greater influence on society than ever before. In fact, much of this nation-building was done through written publication. In Imagined Communities: Reflections on Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Benedict Anderson stresses role of printed media in process of creating national identities, [P]rint-capitalism . . . made it possible for rapidly growing numbers of people to think about themselves, and to relate themselves to others, in profoundly new ways (36). By focusing on increasing influence of publishing industry during late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and by analyzing in particular Dixon and his works, his vigorous marketing and resulting wide acceptance, I will argue that through stories, illustrations, and photos, print media bombarded readers with information about alleged criminal tendencies of these groups and so were responsible for propagating negative images of nonwhites. Muckraking publishers and promoters exploited Dixon, controversial character, and his inflammatory messages for profit. Yet it was ultimately public, especially Northerners, who by welcoming and embracing Dixon and his portrayal of African Americans and dangers they posed, allowed and encouraged growth of racism. Dixon's works, culminating in motion picture The Birth of a Nation (1915), reflected deep-rooted racism already in peoples' minds, justified their new policies on segregation and disfranchisement, and enabled them to see their country as race-based. Indeed, Dixon played a crucial role- during decades following Reconstruction and stretching into twentieth century- in establishing America as world's leading white nation. Dixon received immense support from Northerners who had, only fifty years before, condemned slavery and fought to abolish it. The First Decades After War During decade following Civil War, North was not too eager to learn about South nor very sympathetic to region's plight. Historian Paul H. Buck argues that immediately after war most Northerners were skeptical of, and even hostile to, South and Southerner, and blames publishing industry for sustained antipathy (15). Reports of conditions in South assured readers that the South was barbarous (17), and thus that Southerners were unsuitable partners for union with North. The portrayal of infamous Ku Klux Klan in major magazines epitomized negative image Northerners had of South. In August 1870, Harper's Weekly defended North Carolina Republican governor's decision to ask for federal troops to counter Ku Klux Klan insurgency, since major weekly deemed organization dangerous and state in disorder (North Carolina Troubles). …