"Lawrence Aaron Nixon"(1883-1966)

Was born in Marshall,Texas and graduated from Wiley College (1902) ans Meharry Medical College (1906).He began his medical practice in Cameron,Texas but moved to in El Pasco in

1909.In 1910,he was joined in El Pasco by his first wife Esther (nee Calvin) and their infant son.While practicing as a physician in El Pasco,Dr.Nixon became a founder,organizer and member of Myrtle Avenue Methodist Church as well as a charter member of the El Pasco branch of the NAACP.A registered Democrat,Dr.Nixon challenged a 1923 that barred African Americans from participating in that party's electoral primaries.In Nixon v.Herndon in 1927,and Nixon v.Condon in1932,the El Pasco the El Pasco physician won two important United States Supreme Court rulings making unconstitutional the Democratic Party's all white primaries.The white state party leaders,through resistance and obfuscation,continued the decisive Smith v.Allwright case in 1944 which effectively abolished the all-white primary.Dr.Nixon and his second wife,Drusilla Tandy (nee Porter) whom he married in 1935,proudly voted that year.A devoted husband and father,humanitarian,and avid lover of classical music and baseball,he endeared himself to El Pasoans through his professional and civic activities,providing in many times pro bono medical care.In 1955,Dr.Nixon was admitted to the previously all white Texas State Medical Association and the El Pasco County Medical society.He retired in El Pasco in 1963 and three years later succumbed to injuries sustained in a car accident.He was survived by his second wife and four children.