On This Day In Alabama History: Influential Civil Rights Leader Born In Lowndes County
By Graydon RustAlabama 200
July 12, 1899
Civil rights leader Edgar Daniel Nixon is born in Lowndes County. Standing six feet, four inches tall, the charismatic Nixon became one of the most influential members of the civil rights movement in the state. He organized the Alabama Voters League to increase black voter registration, helped found the Montgomery Improvement Association, and was instrumental in starting the Montgomery bus boycott, even using his house as collateral for Rosa Parks’ release from jail. Nixon won the 1985 Walter White Award from the NAACP, and in 1986, his house was placed on the Alabama Register of Historic Places.
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