Alabama, a city that's known as the Cradle of the Confederacy, that had stood still for more than ninety-three years until Rosa L. Parks was arrested and thrown in jail like a common criminal.... Fifty thousand people rose up and caught hold to the Cradle of the Confederacy and began to rock it till the Jim Crow rockers began to reel and the segregated slats began to fall out. After the boycott Nixon's relationship with the MIA was contentious. He frequently had sharp disagreements with others in the group and competed for leadership. He expressed resentment that King and Abernathy had received most of the credit for the boycott, as opposed to the local activists who had already spent years organizing against racism. However, King admired Nixon, describing him as "one of the chief voices of the Negro community in the area of civil rights," and "a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the long oppressed people of the State of Alabama." Nixon resigned his post as MIA treasurer in 1957, writing a bitter letter to King complaining that he had been treated as a child and a "newcomer." Nixon continued to feud with Montgomery's Black middle class community for the next decade. By the late 1960s, through a series of political defeats, his leadership role in the MIA was eliminated. After retiring from the railroad, Nixon worked as the recreation director of a public housing project. He continued to work for civil rights, especially to improve housing and education for blacks in Montgomery. Nixon died at the age of 87 in Montgomery on February 25, 1987. Awards and honors In 1985, Nixon received the Walter White Award from the NAACP. In 1986, a year before his death, Nixon's house in Montgomery was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, in recognition of his leadership in the state. Edgar D. Nixon Elementary School, on Edgar D. Nixon Avenue in Montgomery, is named after him. See also List of civil rights leaders References Further reading Howell Raines, My Soul Is Rested, The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement In The Deep South, Taylor Branch, Parting The Waters; America In The King Years 1954–63, Stride Toward Freedom, by Martin Luther King Jr., The Origins Of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Communities Organizing For Change, by Aldon D. Morris, External links "E.D. Nixon: organizer of Montgomery bus boycott" , The