Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. (1864 -1946) was an American Baptist minister, playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author. Dixon was ordained as a Baptist minister on October 6, 1886. Dixon is remembered for his talent as a lecturer. In his "Trilogy of Reconstruction" consisting of The Leopard's Spots, The Clansman (1905), and The Traitor (1907). Dixon used historical romance to present Negroes as inferior to whites and to glorify the antebellum American South. While he claimed to oppose slavery, he believed in racial segregation. Dixon viewed Southern black Americans with contempt. Frank Gordon is a preacher and Socialist. He wants to feed the hungry, find jobs for the unemployed, end child labor and care for homeless orphans. Frank is involved in his work and begins to drift from his wife and children. He finds himself falling for a rich sexy younger woman. Frank ends up murdering his best friend and the entire city is mesmerized by the trial of the fallen preacher.