Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs
Gibbs in 1902
Born(1823-04-17)April 17, 1823
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJuly 11, 1915(1915-07-11) (aged 92)
Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Resting placeOakland-Fraternal Cemetery
Other namesM. W. Gibbs
Occupation(s)Businessman, newspaper publisher, lawyer, judge, diplomat, banker, real estate investor
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMaria Ann Alexander Gibbs
ChildrenDonald Francis Gibbs (1860–1906)

Ida Alexander Gibbs (1862–1957)
Horace E. Gibbs (1863–1956)
Wendall D. Gibbs (1865–1885)

Harriet Gibbs Marshall (1868–1941)
RelativesBrother, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs (April 17, 1823 – July 11, 1915) was an American-born Canadian politician, businessman, newspaper publisher, and advocate for black rights.[1][2] He moved to California as a young man, during the Gold Rush, and was an early black pioneer in San Francisco.[3] Gibbs published the first black newspaper in California and was an active leader in the early California State Convention of Colored Citizens.[4]

Angered by discriminatory laws passed in California in 1858, he led a migration of African Americans that year to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, and he worked in Victoria for ten years. Gibbs became the first black person elected to public office in British Columbia on November 16, 1866, upon winning a seat on the Victoria City Council.[5]

After the American Civil War, Gibbs and many of the other black settlers returned to the United States. In the late 1860s, he settled in Arkansas's capital city of Little Rock, and he became an attorney. He was active in Reconstruction politics. In 1873, Gibbs became the first black judge elected in the United States.[6] In 1897, during the William McKinley administration, he was appointed as American consul to Madagascar.

  1. ^ Obee, Dave (November 19, 2016). "Dave Obee: 1861 theatre ruckus sparked racism debate". Times Colonist. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  2. ^ Dillard, Tom W. (1976). ""Golden Prospects and Fraternal Amenities": Mifflin W. Gibbs's Arkansas Years". The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 35 (4): 307–333. doi:10.2307/40023524. ISSN 0004-1823. JSTOR 40023524.
  3. ^ "Miflin W. Gibbs". The Weekly Louisianian. The Elevator. February 12, 1881. p. 2. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Jefferson, Alison Rose (February 5, 2019). "Pioneering Black Urbanites in San Francisco and Los Angeles". California Historical Society. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  5. ^ "Mifflin Wistar Gibbs". BC Black History Awareness Society. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Simmons1887 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).