Search Results

This concluding chapter chronicles the latter part of Nixon's life and retirement from advocacy work, as well as his legacy among African American medical professionals and the locals of El Paso. Between 1948 and his death in 1966, Nixon had lived a relatively quiet life, devoting himself primarily to his medical practice and his family. Less than three years after his retirement, however, Nixon was involved in a car accident, dying five days later in the hospital on March 6, 1966, surrounded by friends and family. During his lifetime and the years afterward the chapter describes how Nixon's legacy has continued to shape history today. At the same time, however, the chapter laments on the neglect which still plagues Nixon's legacy, and concludes with some final reflections on Nixon's remarkable life and work and his impact on the lives of countless people within and beyond the borderlands.

This introductory chapter looks at the social and political contexts behind the intertwined histories of Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon and the American West. As a Black man in the United States, Lawrence Nixon was exposed to constant cultural conflict merely for being who he was: “unapologetically Black,” which in the minds of some was the antithesis of being an American. The chapter first shows how Nixon's life in El Paso, Texas, illustrates both the Black West's regional distinctiveness and its continuity with the legacy of African American history in the rest of the nation. Nixon's life is also an example of the diversity of the Black past and the existence of multiple African American historical traditions. Next, the chapter places Nixon's contributions to the civil rights movement in a broader context and demonstrates how it paved the way for future resistance.

This chapter discusses the legal battles sparked by the all-white primary that was adopted in Texas in 1923 and how the Supreme Court handled the cases. In 1923, the Texas legislature adopted the all-white primary, declaring that “in no event shall a negro be eligible to participate in a Democratic Party primary election.” The legislation left blacks who paid the poll tax free to cast a meaningless vote in the general election. The first challenge to the state's all-white primary was initiated by Lawrence A. Nixon at the behest of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and with the help of the national NAACP. The Supreme Court decision in that case, Nixon v. Herndon, is examined, along with three other cases challenging Texas's all-white primary: Grovey v. Townsend, United States v. Classic, and Smith v. Allwright.