Today's Articles

People, Locations, Episodes

Wed, 08.09.1905

Robert Nix Sr., Congressman born

Robert Nix Sr.

*Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Sr. was born on this date in 1905. He was a Black lawyer and politician

From Orangeburg, S. C., after graduating from Townsend H. S. in New York City, he entered Lincoln University, graduating in 1921. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and began practicing in Philadelphia.  Robert Nix became active in Democratic politics as a committeeman from the fourth ward 1932.  In 1958, he defeated two opponents to fill a congressional vacancy, a position he held for the next twenty years. During his years in the house, Robert Nix served on the Veterans Affairs Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

An elected official who rarely wanted or attracted widespread publicity, he supported liberal legislation. He worked for passage of the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s and privately sought to prevent the House from denying Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. his seat in the Ninetieth Congress.

1975 as chairman of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, he introduced an amendment to the Foreign Military Sales Act requiring the Defense Department to provide Congress with information on identities and fees received by agents who negotiate arms sales for American firms.  1978, he lost to William Gray III, trying to win an eleventh term. Robert Nix, the first Black congressman from Pennsylvania, died in 1987.

To Become a Political Scientist

Reference:

History.House.gov

Find a Grave.com

Black Americans In Congress 1870-1989.
Bruce A. Ragsdale & Joel D. Treese
U.S. Government Printing Office
Raymond W. Smock, historian and director 1990 E185.96.R25

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

Power Equality And we're out to get it I know some of you ain't wit'it This party started right in '66 With a pro-word black radical mix Then at the hour of twelve Some force... PARTY FOR YOUR RIGHT TO FIGHT by Public Enemy (Ridenhour/Shocklee/Sadler).
Read More