Edgar Nixon - Organizing The Boycott

Organizing The Boycott

After Parks' arrest, Nixon called a number of local ministers to organize support for the boycott; the third man he called was Martin Luther King Jr., a young minister who was newly arrived from Atlanta, Georgia. King said he would think about it and call back. When King responded, he said that he would participate in the boycott and had already arranged a meeting of his church congregation on the issue. Nixon could not attend because of an out-of-town business trip; he took precautions to see that no one was elected to lead the boycott campaign until he returned.

When Nixon returned to Montgomery, he met with Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and Rev. E.N. French to plan the program for the next boycott meeting. They came up with a list of demands for the bus company, named the new organization the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and discussed candidates for president of the association. Nixon recommended King to Abernathy and French because Nixon believed that King had not been compromised by dealing with the local white power structure.

Nixon now met with a larger group of ministers to plan the boycott. However, the meeting did not proceed as Nixon had envisioned. The ministers wanted to organize a low key boycott that would not upset the white power structure in Montgomery. This was completely opposite of what Nixon and the other activists wanted to achieve. An exasperated Nixon threatened to publicly denounce the ministers as cowards. That spurred King to stand and state that he was no coward. By the end of this meeting, King had accepted the MIA presidency and Nixon had become the treasurer. That evening, King delivered the keynote address to the full meeting.