On this day in labor history the year was 1987, marks the death of Edgar Daniel Nixon.
Nixon’s leadership in the struggle for black labor and civil rights spanned decades.
He was born in 1899 in Lowndes County, Alabama.
In 1928, Nixon joined A. Philip Randolph’s Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union.
The Sleeping Car Porters were the first black-led union to get a charter under the American Federation of Labor.
Nixon helped to form a branch of the Porters in Montgomery Alabama. He worked as Pullman Porter until 1964.
He became a known community leader in Montgomery.
In 1955, he helped bail Rosa Parks out of jail after she had refused to give up her bus seat in defiance of segregation laws.
In the days after her arrest, he helped mobilize the black community to boycott the buses.
He invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak and support the effort.
The result was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the most important early actions of the Civil Rights Movement.
The 380 day Boycott took great personal toll on Nixon. His was arrested and his house was firebombed.
But he persevered helping to bring an end to segregation on public transportation in the city.
The Boycott gained national attention and helped to launch the Civil Rights Movement.
Throughout his life Nixon served his community as organizer and activist, president of the local chapter of the (NAACP), the Montgomery Welfare League, and the Montgomery Voters League.
During World War II, Nixon wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt calling for the establishment of a USO Club for black servicemen.
Nixon continued organizing around improving conditions in public housing into his 80s.
Edgar Daniel Nixon was one of many black leaders who served in both in the labor movement and Civil Rights Movement.
Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show