A member of the aristocratic Syphax family, Dixon was born in Washington D.C. and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1960.

In 1983 he joined with 7 other Congressional Representatives to sponsor a resolution to impeach Ronald Reagan over his sudden and unexpected invasion of Grenada.

Dixon won re-election to the 107th United States Congress, but died at a hospital in Marina Del Rey, California on December 8, 2000, aged 66, following a heart attack.

[4] His alma mater, Southwestern University School of Law, in 2004 opened the Julian C. Dixon Courtroom and Advocacy Center in the former Bullocks Wilshire building.

The third revised edition of Black Americans in Congress 1870-2007 (House Document 108-224, Serial Set v.14904) is dedicated to the memory of Dixon.