Dixon, Thomas, 1931-

Founding director of the Tacoma Urban League (TUL), Thomas Dixon, became one of that city's most influential African American civil rights leaders. Born in Sparta, Georgia on March 28, 1931, he would spend much of his professional life in Tacoma, Washington. After joining the Air Force in 1951, Dixon was sent to Japan, where he earned a degree in sociology and economics from Sophia University in Tokyo. Following his experience in Japan, Dixon was eventually assigned to McChord Air Force Base, where he served for several years before receiving a medical discharge. Having settled in the Tacoma area, he was selected for training as an employment specialist in a special graduate program offered at the University of Washington. In 1966, Dixon was named chair of a committee investigating the formation of a Tacoma branch of the National Urban League. He went on to become its founding President when the TUL was formally established in 1968. Under Dixon's dynamic leadership, TUL soon began offering job training, and a wide range of educational, community and economic development programs, as well as social and health services. He served for more than thirty years as TUL's President, becoming President Emeritus in 2000. Dixon, who earned a graduate degree in urban studies from the University of Puget Sound, also received an honorary doctorate from that institution in 1988.

From the description of Oral history interviews with Thomas Dixon, 1991. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 456717257