Black History Month 2014: Edgar Nixon

Feb 25

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Thanks for writing this. Strength through struggle.

Social Justice For All

Edgar NixonToday I would like to honor and pay tribute to Edgar Daniel Nixon. As a community based social worker, Nixon caught my attention and my heart, since he dedicated his life to community organizing, activism, and social justice. Nixon was a key figure in organizing the now famous Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. Nixon played a pivotal role in bailing another civil rights hero, Rosa Parks out of jail. The bus boycott lasted 380 days, presenting over a year-long struggle for African Americans.  As testament to this struggle, Nixon’s home was firebombed and he was indicted for violating a state anti-boycott statute. Fortunately, the bus boycott helped to put an end to bus segregation, an embarrassing mark in US history.

Prior to helping organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Nixon was organizing people for voting rights as a part of his dedication to the civil rights movement. In fact, Nixon rallied and…

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Posted on 02/25/2014, in Black History Month, Potpourri and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.

  1. mindyme62 | 02/25/2014 at 11:45 am

    Thank You for sharing this!!

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  2. Yahtzee | 02/25/2014 at 12:06 pm

    Here is what civil rights attorney Fred Gray wrote of E.D. Nixon when Gray returned to Alabama from graduating law school and passing the Ohio Bar (and then needed 5 Alabama lawyers to sign affidavits so that Gray could take the Alabama bar exam):

    At this juncture, with my dream so close to becoming a reality, all that was left for me to do was to talk to Mr. E.D. Nixon. I had known his wife for many years because she and I attended the same church. Ed Nixon had been “Mr. Civil Rights” in Montgomery and in the state for many years. By occupation, he was a Pullman car port, so he was frequently in and out of town.

    If anybody ever had problems with the city police or any matter where they thought their civil rights had been denied, they would always contact E.D. Nixon. For over fifty years, E.D. Nixon advocated the cause of African-Americans in Montgomery and central Alabama.

    He was president of the State Conference of Branches of the NAACP and president and founding member of the Montgomery Progressive Democratic Club, which later became a charter member of the Alabama Democratic Conference. Mr. Nixon believe that African-Americans should have the same rights as other Americans. He believed that segregation was wrong, and he dedicated his life, efforts, and resources to eradicating those wrongs. He was also to become one of the founders and leaders of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended segregation in public transportation in the City of Montgomery.

    He was actively involved in getting persons registered to vote, and getting lawyers to defend African-Americans whose constitutional rights were violated, and he paved the way for many of us and was a role model in the field of civil rights.

    So, like other African-Americans in Montgomery who had problems, I talked with Mr. Nixon about my need to have lawyers sign affidavits.

    from pages 28-9 of Fred Gray’s autobiography entitled”Bus Ride to Freedom”

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    • Yahtzee | 02/25/2014 at 12:09 pm

      “Pullman port” should be “Pullman porter”

      (I was copying to quickly from the book.)

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  3. Yahtzee | 02/25/2014 at 12:41 pm

    Tour of the home of E.D. Nixon:

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  4. Yahtzee | 02/25/2014 at 12:42 pm

    Link to video interview of E.D. Nixon:

    http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/edgar-daniel-e-d-nixon/

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  5. Xena | 02/25/2014 at 4:02 pm

    Yahtzee,
    Thanks for the additional information about Edgar Daniel Nixon.

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