E.D. Nixon "Timeline"
July 12, 1899: Edgar Daniel Nixon was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
E.D. Nixon began to fight for black voting rights, and organized the Montgomery Voters League. Nixon marched with 700 other protestors in protest of the absence of black voting rights.
December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks is arrested. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man trying to sit on the bus. With the help of white attorney Clifford Durr, E.D. Nixon bails her out of jail on December 5.
December 5, 1955: Nixon meets with preacher Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after Parks' arrest to discuss civil rights issues in Montgomery and Alabama. The two men wrote a letter (see below) to the Montgomery public showing complaints to the Montgomery bus company. It regards the busses, arrests, and all "unfair" aspects of life during this time period. They created the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and this document was presented at its first meeting. The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins.
|
January 1956: E.D. Nixon's and Martin Luther King's houses are both bombed due to the ongoing bus boycott. A telegraph to President Eisenhower 10 days later (right) shows contempt towards segregation and the continuing violence happening in the South.
|
|
December 20, 1956: Congress declares public transportation segregation illegal, forcing the Montgomery Bus system to release its segregated bus law towards blacks.
July 2, 1964: Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It ended all discrimination based upon race, sex, color, or religion, as well as school segregation and all other forms of discrimination. |