This article is about the first African American congressman from Pennsylvania. For his son, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, see Robert N. C. Nix Jr.
In 1958, he defeated two opponents in a special election to fill a congressional vacancy left by Earl Chudoff in the House of Representatives.[3] An elected official who rarely wanted or attracted widespread publicity, he supported mostly liberal legislation. He was reelected 10 times. He worked for the passage of the landmark legislation promoting the American Civil Rights Movement and privately sought to prevent the House from denying Rep. Adam Clayton Powell his seat in 1967. In 1962, he became the first member of congress to knowingly meet with gay activists, when he invited Frank Kameny to his office.[4] In 1975, he introduced an amendment to the Foreign Military Sales Act requiring the Defense Department to provide the U.S. Congress with information on identities of agents who negotiate arms sales for American firms.
