Edgar Daniel Nixon was born in Montgomery, Alabama on 12th July, 1899. A trade union leader and close associate of Philip Randolph, Nixon became president of the Voters League of Montgomery in 1944. He was also leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in Alabama.

After the arrest of Rosa Parks in December, 1955, Nixon helped Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and Bayard Rustin organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For thirteen months the 17,000 black people in Montgomery walked to work or obtained lifts from the small car-owning black population of the city. Eventually, the loss of revenue and a decision by the Supreme Court forced the Montgomery Bus Company to accept integration. and the boycott came to an end on 20th December, 1956.

Nixon and Martin Luther King also created the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). In the 1960s Nixon played an important role in the civil rights movement in Alabama. Edgar Daniel Nixon died in Montgomery, Alabama, on 25th February, 1987.