El Paso, El Paso County
(1883-1966) Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon was a pivotal figure in Texas civil rights. Born in Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, he attended Wiley College and Meharry Medical College and became a physician. He began his medical practice in Cameron, Milam County. In January 1910, after witnessing violent racial strife in the community, Dr. Nixon moved to El Paso. His first wife, Esther (Calvin), and their infant son subsequently joined him here. Dr. Nixon became a charter member of the El Paso chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a political activist and registered Democrat, Dr. Nixon challenged state laws that barred African Americans from participation in that party's electoral primaries. In litigation that ultimately went before the U.S. Supreme Court in Nixon v. Herndon (1924) and Nixon v. Condon (1927), he won two landmark victories that would help secure voting rights for U.S. citizens regardless of race. The State of Texas circumvented the rulings for almost two decades, but the precedent set by Dr. Nixon was ultimately affirmed in 1944, and that year he and his second wife, Drusilla (Tandy), voted in the primaries. The couple continued to work toward the development of civil rights throughout their lifetimes. Well-loved and respected, Dr. Nixon was considered a visionary as he sought to establish an El Paso hospital for African American tubercular patients and a cultural center for people of color. After 53 years of dedicated, distinguished medical practice, Dr. Nixon retired in 1963 and lived his remaining years in El Paso. (2005)