Bullets and Ropes

This chapter shows how Nixon helped dismantle the racial status quo in Texas. Nixon's involvement, by way of the local NAACP, in the Henry Lowry tragedy and his attempts to secure an all-Black swimming pool in El Paso through his association with the local Negro Ministerial Alliance were deliberate steps he took to help make W.E.B. Du Bois's “American Negro” who would have a “right to vote and a right to work and a right to live without insult” a reality. Beyond Nixon, the whole Black El Pasoan arena was evolving. Movements such as the Texas's Juneteenth celebration provided a way for Black El Pasoans to join together in solidarity and strength and to exercise their political influence.