E.D. Nixon (1899 - 1987)

Wed Jul 12, 1899

Image

Edgar Daniel Nixon, born on this day in 1899, was a civil rights leader and union organizer who played a crucial role in organizing the landmark 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama.

The boycott highlighted the issues of segregation in the South, was upheld for more than a year by black residents, and nearly brought the city-owned bus system to bankruptcy.

To organize and sustain the boycott, Nixon helped launch the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). MLK Jr. was elected to lead the boycott as president, Nixon was elected treasurer. When some participants suggested forming a secret organization, Nixon stated “Am I to tell our people that you are cowards?”

In 1957, after the boycott’s success, Nixon left the MIA to protest his own treatment as a newcomer, and what perceived as the domination of the MIA by middle class leaders who refused to share power with low income black people.

Nixon also expressed resentment that King and Abernathy had received most of the credit for the boycott, as opposed to the local activists like himself who had already spent years organizing against segregation.

Despite this, King paid homage to Nixon, calling him “a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the long oppressed people of the State of Alabama.”