Isaiah "Ike" Dixon Jr. (December 23, 1922 – April 26, 2013) was an American politician and businessman.

Life

Dixon was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

and graduated from Frederick Douglas High School in 1941. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and was stationed in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. He then went to

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

and was in the

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

bail bond Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when r ...

s, and real estate businesses. He was first elected to the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

in 1966 as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

. In 1972, he proposed that Harbor City Boulevard be named in honor of

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his a ...

, a measure which was adopted a decade later. Other legislation that he was involved in included granting the Baltimore City mayor the power to appoint the police commissioner and a bill making cross-burning a felony. He served in the House of Delegates until 1982. After leaving the House, Mr. Dixon waged unsuccessful campaigns for the House of Delegates in 1986 and for the City Council in 1987. Mr. Dixon was elected as a delegate to the 1976 Democratic National Convention. He served on the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors Arbitration Panel and on the board of directors of the National Aquarium. He was also a member of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, receiving that organization's Certificate of Honor in 1970; and of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

fraternity, which awarded him a Life Membership Certificate in 1992. In 1978, Dixon attempted to introduce legislation in the Maryland state legislature to make it illegal to play

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

's song "

Short People "Short People" is a song by Randy Newman from his 1977 album, '' Little Criminals''. With lyrics demeaning to short people, the song was intended by Newman to be a satire about prejudice more broadly. As with many of his songs such as " Rednecks ...

" on the radio. He was advised by Attorney General Francis B. Burch that such a law would be a violation of the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. His father was Ike Dixon who was a jazz musician and owner of the Comedy Club, a venue which showcased notable jazz singers. Isaiah Dixon and his brother Howard Dixon took over the management of the club after their father's death in 1953 until the club's closure in the 1960s. He died in

Timonium, Maryland Timonium is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it has a population of 10,458. Prior to 2010 the area was part of the Luth ...

and is buried at Arbutus Memorial Park,

Arbutus, Maryland Arbutus is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 20,483 at the 2010 census. The census area also contains the communities of Halethorpe and Relay, in which all ...

References

1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Politicians from Baltimore Military personnel from Baltimore United States Army soldiers Howard University alumni Businesspeople from Baltimore Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly {{Maryland-politician-stub