E. D. Nixon
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E. D. Nixon | |
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Born | Edgar Daniel Nixon July 12, 1899 Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. |
Died | February 25, 1987 Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. | (aged 87)
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Union organizer, civil rights leader |
Spouses |
Alease Curry
(m. 1927; died 1934)Arlet Campbell (m. 1934) |
Children | 1 |
Edgar Daniel Nixon (July 12, 1899 – February 25, 1987), known as E. D. Nixon, was an
A longtime organizer and activist, Nixon was president of the local chapter of the
Martin Luther King Jr. described Nixon as "one of the chief voices of the Negro community in the area of civil rights," and "a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the long oppressed people of the State of Alabama."[1]
Early life and education
Edgar D. Nixon was born on July 12, 1899, in rural, majority-black
After working in a train station baggage room, Nixon rose to become a
Marriage and family
Nixon married Alease Curry on August 21, 1927 in Montgomery, Alabama.[3] She died in 1934. They had a son, Edgar Daniel Nixon Jr. (1928–2011), who became an actor known by the stage name of Nick LaTour. Nixon later remarried, to Arlet Campbell, in Florida. She was with him during many of the civil rights events.[2]
Civil rights activism
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Years before the
In 1943, Nixon and lawyer Arthur Madison founded the Alabama Voters League to encourage African Americans to apply for voter registration, at a time when African Americans were generally excluded from voting in the South using highly subjective rules.[4] Nixon organized an event on June 12, 1944, in which up to 750 African Americans marched to the Montgomery County courthouse and attempted to register to vote, to protest Madison's disbarment over the voter registration campaign he conducted as part of this organization. Nixon himself gained voter registration in 1945.[4][5]
Nixon was a member of the
In 1954, he was the first black to run for a seat on the county Democratic Executive Committee.[2] The next year, he questioned the Democratic candidates for the Montgomery City Commission on their positions on civil rights issues.
Challenging bus segregation
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In the early 1950s, Nixon and Jo Ann Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council, decided to mount a court challenge to the discriminatory seating practices on Montgomery's municipal buses, along with a boycott of the bus company. A Montgomery ordinance reserved the front seats on these buses for white passengers only, forcing African-American riders to sit in the back. The middle section was available to blacks unless the bus became so crowded that white passengers were standing; in that case, blacks were supposed to give up their seats and stand if necessary. Blacks constituted the majority of riders on the city-owned bus system.
Before the activists could mount the court challenge, they needed someone to voluntarily violate the bus seating law and be arrested for it. Nixon carefully searched for a suitable plaintiff. At the same time, some women mounted their own individual challenges. For instance, 15-year-old student Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in March 1955, nine months before Parks' action.
Nixon rejected Colvin because she became an unwed mother, another woman who was arrested because he did not believe she had the fortitude to see the case through, and a third woman,
The final choice was Rosa Parks, the elected secretary of the Montgomery NAACP. Nixon had been her boss, although he said, "Women don't need to be nowhere but in the kitchen."[7] When she asked, "Well, what about me?", he replied, "I need a secretary and you are a good one."[7]
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" Montgomery Bus Boycott . |
On December 1, 1955, Parks entered a Montgomery bus, refused to give up her seat for a white passenger, and was arrested. After being called about Parks' arrest, Nixon went to bail her out of jail. He arranged for Parks' friend, Clifford Durr, a sympathetic white lawyer, to represent her. After years of working with Parks, Nixon was certain that she was the ideal candidate to challenge the discriminatory seating policy. Even so, Nixon had to persuade Parks to lead the fight. After consulting with her mother and husband, Parks accepted the challenge.
Organizing the boycott
After Parks' arrest, Nixon called a number of local ministers to organize support for the boycott; the third man he called was
When Nixon returned to Montgomery, he met with Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rev. E.N. French to plan the program for the next boycott meeting. They came up with a list of demands for the bus company, named the new organization the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and discussed candidates for president of the association. Nixon recommended King to Abernathy and French because Nixon believed that King had not been compromised by dealing with the local white power structure.
After a successful one-day bus boycott on December 5, 1955, Nixon met with a group of ministers to plan the larger boycott.
Nixon shared his labor and civil rights contacts with the MIA, organizing financial and other resources to help manage and support the boycott. These were critical to its success.[1]
Successful boycott
What was expected to be a short boycott lasted 381 days, more than one year. Despite fierce political opposition, police coercion, personal threats, and their own sacrifices, the blacks of Montgomery held the boycott. They walked to work; the people with cars gave others rides. They gave up some trips. Bus ridership plummeted, as blacks were the majority riders in the system, and the bus company was on the verge of financial ruin. In late January a bomb was set off near the home of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,[6] and on February 1, 1956, a bomb exploded in front of Nixon's home.
Attorneys
On June 5, 1956, a three-judge panel of the US District Court ruled on Browder v. Gayle and determined that Montgomery's segregation law was unconstitutional, violating the
Three days later, the Supreme Court issued its order for Montgomery to desegregate its buses.[6] With that legal victory, the MIA organizers ended the boycott. At a later rally at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Nixon talked about the symbolism of the boycott to an audience of supporters:
I'm from Montgomery, Alabama, a city that's known as the Cradle of the Confederacy, that had stood still for more than ninety-three years until Rosa L. Parks was arrested and thrown in jail like a common criminal.... Fifty thousand people rose up and caught hold to the Cradle of the Confederacy and began to rock it till the Jim Crow rockers began to reel and the segregated slats began to fall out.[9]
After the boycott
Nixon's relationship with the MIA was contentious. He frequently had sharp disagreements with others in the group and competed for leadership. He expressed resentment that King and Abernathy had received most of the credit for the boycott, as opposed to the local activists who had already spent years organizing against racism. However, King admired Nixon, describing him as "one of the chief voices of the Negro community in the area of civil rights," and "a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the long oppressed people of the State of Alabama."[1]
Nixon resigned his post as MIA treasurer in 1957, writing a bitter letter to King complaining that he had been treated as a child and a "newcomer."
By the late 1960s, through a series of political defeats, his leadership role in the MIA was eliminated. After retiring from the railroad, Nixon worked as the recreation director of a public housing project. He continued to work for civil rights, especially to improve housing and education for blacks in Montgomery.
Nixon died at the age of 87 in Montgomery on February 25, 1987.[10]
Awards and honors
- In 1985, Nixon received the
- In 1986, a year before his death, Nixon's house in Montgomery was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, in recognition of his leadership in the state.[1]
- Edgar D. Nixon Elementary School, on Edgar D. Nixon Avenue in Montgomery, is named after him.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nixon, Edgar Daniel (1899–1987), King Encyclopedia Online, accessed 3 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Nixon, Edgar Daniel", Encyclopedia of Alabama. Accessed October 29, 2023.
- ^ Alabama County Marriages, 1809–1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKMY-GT1Y : 15 November 2020), Edgar D Nixon and Alleas [sic] Curry, 21 Aug 1927; citing Montgomery, Alabama, United States, County Probate Courts, Alabama; FHL microfilm 1,535,180.
- ^ ISBN 0-8173-1170-X.
- ^ Lyman, Brian (February 25, 2021). "The believer: In 1944, Arthur Madison launched a voter registration in Montgomery". Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Browder v. Gayle, 352 U.S. 903 (1956)", Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia. Accessed December 3, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-684-85012-2. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
- ^ Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church (5 December 1955)
- ISBN 978-0-14-006753-8.
- ^ "E. D. Nixon, Leader in Civil Rights, Dies". The New York Times. 27 February 1987. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
Further reading
- Howell Raines, My Soul Is Rested, The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement In The Deep South, ISBN 0-14-006753-1
- Taylor Branch, Parting The Waters; America In The King Years 1954–63, ISBN 0-671-46097-8
- Stride Toward Freedom, by Martin Luther King Jr., ISBN 0-06-250490-8
- The Origins Of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Communities Organizing For Change, by ISBN 0-02-922130-7
External links
- "E.D. Nixon: organizer of Montgomery bus boycott" The Militant, 2005
- "Rosa Parks: a working-class militant", The Militant, 2005