​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. (January 11, 1864 – April 3, 1946) was an American 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).   Description above from the Wikipedia article Thomas Dixon, Jr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.