SOURCE: Miller, Kelly. “An Open Letter to Thomas Dixon, Jr.” In As to the Leopard's Spots: An Open Letter to Thomas Dixon, Jr., pp. 18-21. Washington, D.C.: K. Miller, 1905.

In the following letter to Dixon, Miller, an African-American professor and social activist at Howard University, attacks Dixon's ideas on relations between the races as stated in The Leopard's Spots and declares, “You are a greater enemy to your own race than you are to mine.”

Mr. Thomas Dixon, Jr.,

Dear Sir:—

I am writing you this letter to express the attitude and feeling of ten million of your fellow citizens toward the evil propagandism of race animosity to which you have lent your great literary powers. Through the wide-spread influence of your writings you have become the chief priest of those who worship at the shrine of race hatred and wrath. This one spirit runs through all...