Robert N. C. Nix Sr.
American politician (1898-1987)
Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Sr. (August 9, 1898 – June 22, 1987) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1958 until 1979. He was the first African American to represent Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives. The Robert N. C. Nix Federal Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is named in his honor.
Early life
Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he attended Townsend Harris High School in New York City and graduated from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 1921. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and began practicing in Philadelphia. He also was initiated into the Mu Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania. After entering private practice, Nix became active in the Democratic Party as a committeeman from the fourth ward in 1932. He became a special assistant deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania in 1934 and delegate to the 1956 Democratic National Convention.
United States House of Representatives
In 1958, he defeated two opponents in a special election to fill a congressional vacancy left by Earl Chudoff in the House of Representatives.
The public source identifies “Robert N. C. Nix Sr.” as american politician (1898-1987). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, American and politician.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7347923. VIAF identifies the subject as 8914154. The Library of Congress control number is n87891218. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1987, 1958 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert N. C. Nix Sr.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.