Thomas Edison Dixon, M.D.

The Fighting Fund for Freedom, to which the plaque says Dixon and other physicians contributed in 1954, began as a doctors' proposal. The Carolina Times reported that Dr. W. Montague Cobb urged at Tuskegee on April 14 that every Black physician in the country give the NAACP at least $100, a full response being worth near $410,000. The fund was set up at the suggestion of NAACP board chairman Channing Tobias. The NAACP's stated aim was to end racial discrimination, medicine included, by 1963, the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.

What the plaque says

Thomas Edison Dixon, M.D. (1890-1958) Thomas Edison Dixon, M.D., was an African-American physician committed to serving God and his community in a time dominated by white men. Dixon, or "Tommy" to friends and family, was born in August 1890 in Hearne, Texas. He first attended Bishop College in Marshall and then Meharry Medical College in Nashville in 1912. After graduating in 1916, he was granted a medical license in the State of Texas and began practicing medicine in Mart, Texas. Around 1927, Dixon relocated his practice to downtown Temple during a time when there were minimal health care services for African-Americans. It was here that he gave special attention to pediatrics and obstetrics. In addition to his professional work, Dixon played a prominent role in the community's churches and organizations. He was chairman of the board of trustees and deacon of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, a regular contributor to many of Temple's black churches, and was also involved with the Boy Scouts, the Negro Civic League and the Progressive Voters League. Specific instances of his influence on the community include his sizable contribution with other physicians to the NAACP's "Fighting Fund for Freedom" in 1954, which aimed to eliminate racial discrimination in the U.S., and his sale of building sites to the city at reasonable costs for the purpose of constructing schools. At the time of his death, Dixon was the only African-American physician practicing in Bell County. Dr. Dixon dedicated his life to the people of Temple for almost 30 years and is remembered for being driven by love and a profound sense of duty. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — 1.4 mi
  The Santa Fe depot of 1911 in a railroad town that began in 1880 as a construction camp, now a museum with locomotives and cars parked beside the active rail yard.
• Mother Neff State Park — 19 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 26 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Corinth Missionary Baptist Church — 0.9 mi
• Eighth Street Baptist Church — 1.0 mi
• Knob Creek Lodge No. 401, A.F. & A.M. — 1.3 mi
• City of Temple — 1.3 mi