Monday Open Thread: February 25 is the Anniversary of E.D. Nixon's Death

February 18 is the 56h day of the Gregorian Calendar year Sweetmorn, Chaos 56, 3185 YOLD  (discordian) And let us not forget 13.0.6.4.17 by the Mayan Long Count

First, a thank you and a hat tip to Lookout, who brought up Mr. Nixon in a comment to my Rosa Parks Day Open Thread.

-

I've done a ton of these date based OTs and browsed through tons of lists of events, births and deaths. They memorialize damn near everybody, minor royalty of every ilk, and those who marry into it, athletes and practitioners of sports like golf, bowling and croquet, soldiers of every rank of every nation, artists, authors and musicians of every conceivable level of prominence and talent, but, for today, no mention of Mr. Edgar Daniel (E.D.) Nixon. I know, because, thanks to Lookout, I was looking for him. Ever heard of him?

-

A relatively unsung civil rights leader in Montgomery Alabama, Mr. Nixon played a major role in the Montgomery bus boycott. He put up his house for collateral to bail out Rosa Parks. He arranged for Clifford Durr, a white attorney, to represent her. He called a bunch of local ministers to drum up support for a boycott, including Martin Luther King Jr., who had recently moved to Montgomery from Atlanta. He was instrumental in forming the Montgomery Improvement Association to carry out the boycott and in working with Ralph Abernathy to draw up a list of demands to present to the bus company. So, did anybody of note die on this day in 1987? Well, according to Wikipedia, for example, somebody in fact did, James Coco, an American actor and comedian. You have absolutely got to be shitting me!

-

Edgar Daniel (E.D.) Nixon. July 12, 1899 to February 25, 1987, Pullman porter, union organizer and civil rights leader.

-

Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ... On this day in history: 1836 – Samuel Colt received a patent for the Colt revolver 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, of the Miss. GOP became the nation's first black Senator 1919 – Oregon instituted a penny per gallon gas tax, the first gas tax in the US 1941 – There was a general strike in the occupied Amsterdam (The February strike). 1968 – South Korean Troops committed the Hà My massacre of one hundred thirty-five unarmed civilians in Vietnam as US allies. 1986 – Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines and Cory Acquino took over (People Power Revolution). 1991 – The Warsaw Pact was abolished leaving NATO with no legitimate purpose beyond economic imperialism, colonialism and brigandage. 1994 – The Mosque of Abraham massacre took place. Born this day in: 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painter and sculptor 1873 – Enrico Caruso, singer 1898 – William Astbury, physicist and molecular biologist 1906 – Mary Coyle Chase, journalist and playwright 1917 – Anthony Burgess, author, playwright and critic 1918 – Bobby Riggs, male chauvinist tennis hustler who was handed his ass on TV by Billie Jean King. 1920 – Sun Myung Moon, the second messiah, close buds with RM Nixon, GHW Bush, and GW Bush. 1927 – Ralph Stanley, singer and banjo player 1929 – Tommy Newsom, saxophonist and bandleader 1932 – Faron Young, country singer, songwriter, and guitarist, y'all 1943 – George Harrison, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1946 – Pete Wernick, banjo plarer 1947 – Doug Yule, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Died this day in: 1723 – Christopher Wren, architect 1852 – Thomas Moore, poet and lyricist 1914 – John Tenniel, illustrator 1928 – William O'Brien, journalist and politician 1934 – Elizabeth Gertrude Britton, botanist and bryologist 1957 – Bugs Moran, businessman 1964 – Grace Metalious, author 1970 – Mark Rothko, Painter 1975 – Elijah Muhammad, religious leader 1983 – Tennessee Williams, playwright 1987 – E.D. Nixon, civil rights leader and union organizer, Pullman porter 1994 – Baruch Goldstein, mass murderer 1999 – Glenn T. Seaborg, chemist 2012 – Louisiana Red, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 2013 – C. Everett Koop, surgeon and admiral, surgeon general 2014 – Paco de Lucía, guitarist, songwriter, and producer  

-

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Kitano Baika-sai, Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan People Power Day (Philippines)  

-

-

Music goes here, iirc, well,

E.D. Nixon

George Harrison

Doug Yule

Louisiana Red

Paco de Lucia

y mas

-

-

Image is the bus Rosa Parks was busted in It's an open thread, so do your thing Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com