Image credit: Breana Stephens James
Year Erected: 2026
Marker Text: Frank T. Nixon and Solomon Nixon, Sr., father and son, used their businesses and influence in Tift County to serve southwest Georgia’s Black communities. In 1925 Frank co-founded Nixon-Parson-Wilson Undertaking Co., now Frank and Solomon Nixon Funeral Home. The Home also provided ambulance service to rural Black residents starting in the 1930s until the 1973 federal Emergency Medical Services Systems Act ended segregated services. Frank established Nixon Motel, Sunset Market, and Nixon Pool Room, raising access to public accommodations for South Tifton Black residents. Frank co-founded the Citizens Burial League, a regional membership-based burial insurance organization. During the Civil Rights Movement, Solomon supported Black-only schools, sheltered activists at the motel, and aided youth who then created the SCLC Tifton Youth Chapter. After the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Solomon founded STAC, which organized voter registration drives.
Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Magnolia Lodge #87 F&AM Prince Hall Affiliated, and White Star Chapter #11, OES Tifton, Georgia
Tips for Finding This Marker: At Frank and Solomon Nixon Funeral Home, 2700 S Park Avenue, in Tifton
Learn more about this marker:
- Georgia Civil Rights Trail
- Georgia Historical Society Dedicates New Historical Marker About Frank T. Nixon and Solomon Nixon, Sr., Black Entrepreneurs and Civil Rights Advocates in Tifton
Explore this marker and more through the Georgia Historical Society's interactive database.