First African Baptist Church 702 N. Railroad Avenue Mt. Vernon, Georgia (County seat for Montgomery County, Georgia) Rev. Craig B. Snead, Sr., Pastor Sunday - November 10th, 2013 Afternoon Service - 2:00pm United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization Transatlantic Slave Trade, (UNESCO-TST) Florida Center The Rosewood Heritage Foundation, Inc. Veterans Weekend - Memorial Service Honoring Mr. Isaiah Nixon Presentation of National Colors JROTC Thunderbolt Regiment of Vidalia, Ga. Under the Leadership of First Sergeant Yusuf K. Brantley, US Army (Retired) Singing of the National Anthem Pledge of Allegiance The Occasion & Recognition of Guest Mrs. Sherry Sherrod DuPree, Director UNESCO-TST, Florida Center, Gainesville, FL Historical Recognition Mr. Chris Bridges, Former Law Student & Graduate Northeastern University - Civil Rights & Restorative Justice Project (CRRJP), Boston, MA Presentations Representative Georgia State Conference of the NAACP Deacon James Harris, Resident of Alston, Georgia Family Response Mr. Winston Antonio Williams, Grandson of the late Mr. Isaiah Nixon Mrs. Sallie N. Zimon, widow Living children, Daughters: Dorothy Nixon Williams, Connie Nixon Fountain and Margaret Nixon McCrary Deceased Children: Margaret Ann Nixon Hill, Hubert Nixon, Isaiah Nixon, Jr. Restorative Groups Southern Truth & Reconciliation (STAR, Inc.) Atlanta, GA The Alliance for Truth & Racial Reconciliation (ATRR) Newnan, GA; Mary Turner Project, Valdosta, GA Moore’s Ford Memorial Committee, Athens, GA Song We Shall Overcome Special offering Retrieval of the National Colors Closing Prayer Pastor Craig B. Snead, Sr. UNESCO-TST Education Project: Sherry Sherrod DuPree, Ed.S., Beverly J. Robinson, Ph.D. Elaine A. Edwards Colonel, (Retired) U.S. Army, Ph.D. Isaiah Nixon, a U.S. army veteran and father of six, was killed for daring to exercise his constitutional right to vote. On September 8, 1948, Isaiah Nixon voted in Georgia’s democratic primary election. That evening Nixon was confronted at his home by two white men, identified as brothers Jim A. Johnson and Johnny Johnson. He was asked to step down from his porch and when Nixon refused he was shot three times by J. A. Johnson. The shooting took place in front of Nixon’s wife and young children. Nixon was transported to a hospital in Dublin where he died of his injuries forty-eight hours later. The Johnson brothers were indicted by a grand jury but found not guilty at the trial. The pair admitted shooting Nixon but insisted they had gone to the victim’s house hoping to hire him for work and that the shots were fired in self-defense. On November 5, after forty-five minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted J. A. Johnson of murder. Johnny Johnson’s charges were dropped with his brother’s acquittal. In the wake of his death Isaiah Nixon was recognized by the NAACP, the Pittsburgh Courier and sympathetic citizens across the country as having died a martyr for African American voting rights. Yet his sacrifice bore little reward; the Democratic primary in which Nixon had voted resulted in an overwhelming victory for Herman Talmadge, an avid segregationist who ran for Governor on a platform of white supremacy and opposition to Truman’s civil rights program. Today Isaiah Nixon is all but forgotten. His body lies in an unmarked grave. Copyright @ Civil Rights and Restorative Justice, 400 Huntington, Boston, MA 02115. Plaque at “Old Salem Cemetery,” Austin, GA: In commemoration of Mr. Isaiah Nixon, an African American, U.S. Army veteran, husband and father of six, voted in Georgia’s Democratic primary election on September 8, 1948 in Alston, GA (Montgomery County). That evening, Nixon was shot three times by J.A. Johnson in front of Nixon’s wife and young children. Nixon was transported to a hospital in Dublin, GA where he died two days later. After forty-five minutes of deliberation on November 5th Johnson was acquitted of murder. Isaiah Nixon’s death was recognized by Attorney Thurgood Marshall special council to the NAACP, the New York Times, the Pittsburgh Courier president Mrs. Robert L. Vann established a Nixon Fund. Courier Photographer Alexander M. Rivera risked his life in Georgia for a Nixon family photograph. In 1949, sympathetic citizens who contributed to the Nixon Fund built the Sallie Nixon family a new home in Jacksonville, Florida. Dedicated November 10, 2013, sponsors: United Nations Educational & Scientific Cultural Organization -Transatlantic Slave Trade Florida Center, The Rosewood Heritage Foundation, Inc., The DuPree Holiness Pentecostal Foundation, Inc., Ocoee Documentary Project, The Robinson House, LLC., First African Baptist Church, Mt. Vernon, GA
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:22:52 +0000
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