BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, II (September 28, 1821 – August 14, 1874) was a Presbyterian minister and a prominent African-American officeholder during Reconstruction. He served as first black Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction ofFlorida, and along with Josiah Thomas Walls, was among the most powerful black officeholders in the state during Reconstruction.
Early life
Philadelphia
Gibbs was born free in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1821. His father, the Reverend Jonathan Gibbs I, married Maria Jackson. The elder Gibbs was a Methodist minister, and his wife was a Baptist. Jonathan C. Gibbs II was the oldest of four children born to the couple. He grew up in Philadelphia during a time when the city was rife with anti-black and anti-abolitionist sentiments. Such sentiments were not unfamiliar to free blacks, as many white Northerners during this period practiced both white superiority and discrimination against blacks.[1] Gibbs and his brother, Mifflin, attended the local Free School in Philadelphia.
Though not much is known about the details of his early life, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs grew up in a Philadelphia where anti-black riots and violence were quite common.[2] Following the death of his father in April 1831, Gibbs and his brother left the Free School to aid their ailing mother and earn a living. The young Gibbs apprenticed to a carpenter. Both brothers eventually converted to Presbyterianism. Gibbs impressed the Presbyterian assembly such that the Assembly provided financial backing for him to attendKimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.[3]
New Hampshire
Gibbs attended Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire, and graduated in 1848. At the time, the academy was under the guidance of abolitionist principal, Cyrus Smith Richards, who had earlier allowed Augustus Washington (who would also attend Dartmouth) to study at the academy. Washington is best known for a famous daguerreotype of John Brown.[4] At KUA, Gibbs became acquainted with Charles Barrett, a native of Grafton, Vermont, who would become one of his closest friends. The two went on to Dartmouth College, and later, Barrett returned to his native Vermont and served in politics.
While Gibbs was a student, Dartmouth was under the presidency of pro-slavery Nathan Lord. Lord was originally an anti-slavery advocate who had voted for the Liberty Party and had written editorials in The Liberator. His sudden conversion was due to his conservative brand of Calvinism, he felt that reformers may have been going too far in their zeal against slavery. Despite the president's views regarding slavery, which stemmed in large part from his belief that the institution was predicated on sin, Lord permitted several African-Americans to attend the college. Lord's believed that any group of people who sinned against God could be enslaved (including whites).[5]
While at the college, Gibbs was influenced by three professors who would affect his thinking as a missionary, educator and politician.[6] He was a member of the abolitionist movement while a college student, and participated in several conventions, appearing by name in The Liberator.[7]
He was the third African-American to graduate from Dartmouth College, and, following on the heels of John Brown Russwurm, Gibbs became the second black man in the nation to deliver a commencement address at a college.
Abolitionist Minister
New York and the Abolitionist Movement[ Following his graduation in 1852, Gibbs studied at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1853 to 1854 but did not graduate due to financial constraints.[8] At the seminary, Gibbs studied under Charles Hodge a pro-slavery advocate. Hodge, a Presbyterian minister, espoused the belief that, "slavery as such was not condemned by Scripture but that the way it was practiced in the South perpetuated great evil." Unlike Nathan Lord, Hodge did support the war effort and President Abraham Lincoln.[9] Though Gibbs was unable to graduate from the seminary, he was ordained in 1856, and became pastor of Liberty Street Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York, where Henry Highland Garnet had been pastor. Gibbs invited the pro-slavery president of Dartmouth College, Nathan Lord, to give the ordination sermon. He "begged Dr. Lord as a special favor to preach his ordination sermon, giving as a reason that his college was the only (one) which would endure his presence." Lord delivered the sermon as a result of the absence of other ministers.[10]
Gibbs, by now a young minister, married Anna Amelia Harris, the daughter of a well-to-do black New York merchant. The couple had three children: Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs, Julia Pennington Gibbs, and Josephine Haywood Gibbs.[11]
Following his ordination, Gibbs became active in the abolitionist movement. He attended a series of black conventions where he worked with Frederick Douglass and served on committees. His participation in the abolitionist movement began to place him on the national stage as a known figure in the movement. Gibbs was featured in anti-slavery publications including The Liberator and the The National Anti-Slavery Standard. His rising fame was indicative of Gibbs' own ambitions as well his skills as an orator and rising abolitionist minister.[12] His growing involvement in New York's abolitionist movement did not bode well for his marriage. In part due to his extensive absences from home and his parish duties, Gibbs became increasingly alienated him from his wife. On Anna's part, she was accustomed to living standards that a young pastor could not afford. The tension between husband and wife prompted Gibbs to consider leaving the United States for Africa to work as a missionary. However, he was persuaded by his congregation to abandon these plans.[13] The marital discord eventually led to lengthy and bitter divorce proceedings, which lasted until 1862.[14] Not long afterward, Gibbs returned to his native Philadelphia where he continued his involvement in the abolitionist movement.
Return to Philadelphia
Gibbs served as pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1859 to 1865. He became active in the abolitionist movement and "he became a key figure in the local underground railroad and contributed articles to the Anglo-African Magazine."[15]
Following President Abraham Lincoln's announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, Gibbs delivered a sermon titled "Freedom's Joyful Day" where he emphasized that whites should crush their prejudices and that blacks should be allowed to fight in the Civil War. Gibbs noted that, "We, the colored men of the North, put the laboring oar in your hand; it is for white men to show that they are equal to the demands of these times, by putting away their stupid prejudices."[16] He touched upon the need for blacks to fight by addressing white concerns and prejudices stating unequivocally that:
| “ | Many persons are asking, Will black men fight? That is not what they mean. The question they are asking is simply this: Have white men of the North the same moral courage, the pluck, the grit, to lay down their foolish prejudice against the colored man and place him in a position where he can bear his full share of the toils and dangers of this war?[17] | ” |
Along with William Still, Gibbs fought for equal accommodations and transportation in Philadelphia, decrying segregation of the city's rail cars. In a blunt article published in December 1864 in the National Anti-Slavery Standard, Still and Gibbs asked, "Why, then, should the fear exist that the very people who are meeting with colored people in various other directions without insulting them, should instantly become so intolerably incensed as to indicate a terrible aspect in this particular?"[18] They wrote further that:
| “ | It is well known that through the efforts of the Supervisory Committee of this city ten or eleven regiments of colored men have been raised for the United States service, and not a few of these brave men have already won imperishable honor on the battle-field. Nevertheless, thrice the number that have been thus raised for the defence of the country are daily and hourly compelled to endure all the outrages and inconveniences consequent upon rules so severe and inexorable as those which have hitherto governed the roads of Philadelphia.[19] | ” |
Gibbs' efforts in the movement to abolish slavery helped both free blacks and their enslaved brethren. As the Civil War drew to a close, Gibbs left Philadelphia, and journeyed to the South to help rebuild the former Confederate states and to educate the ex-slaves and poor whites who were left destitute in the wake of the bloody ravages of war.
Move to the South
On December 18, 1864, Gibbs announced his departure from the First African Presbyterian Church. Gibbs, "was invited to go South for several months to look to the needs of Freedmen."[20] What may have begun as an endeavor for only a few months eventually grew to several years, as Gibbs labored alongside other missionaries as part of theAmerican Home Missionary Society. Gibbs arrived at New Bern, North Carolina, where he wrote a letter published in The Christian Recorder where he described the conditions he saw in the aftermath of the war, "The destitution and suffering of this people extended my wildest dream; old men and women bending to the ground, heads white with the frosts and hardships of many winters, as well as the innocent babe of a few weeks, contribute to make up this scene of misery."[21] Gibbs eventually settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where he established himself in the local church and opened a school for educating the freedmen.
The situation for freedmen in this period was filled with uncertainty as well as with great opportunities. As early as 1866 the need for missionary activities among the freedmen was mentioned prominently in The First Annual Report of the General Assembly’s Committee on Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The Report stated that, "The condition of the freedmen, their native peculiarities, and the various influences to which they are subjected, have much to do in determining the success of missions, and the plan of the church’s operation for their benefit."[22] This same report also illuminated the perspective of Northern missionaries in treating the situation on the ground for freedmen writing that newly freed blacks are, "passing through 'a howling wilderness' of social, political, and religious problems, as striking and peculiar as those found by the Israelites in their journey from the 'house of bondage' to the land of their fathers. And all these problems impinge upon the work of their religious education, in every branch of it, either directly or remotely.[23] Missionary activity in the South was not a new occurrence in the South. Contraband camps had already been a fixture from early on in the war, and missionaries were already hard at work living among the contrabands, a point which was not lost on Steven Hahn who noted that:
| “ | The missionaries and reformers, charged as many were with evangelical fervor, sought not only to strike fatal blows against the institution of slavery but also to reshape the character and morals of the institutions direct victims. Assuming, for the most part, that the slaves had emerged from an experience of degradation and cultural barbarism, they expected to teach essential lessons in the proper conduct of faith, family, health, and livelihood as well as in the rudiments of reading and writing.[24] | ” |
The established missionary work among freed blacks in the South was augmented by missionary activities such as those in which Gibbs participated. The motivating factor for Gibbs involved his enduring belief in the power of education and the link (expressed in the 1866 report) between religious duties and the task of uplifting nearly four million enslaved individuals. In a letter to his old friend, Charles Barrett of Vermont, Gibbs proudly stated that he "had one school that daily average in Charleston, 1000, children, and some 20 teachers."[25] During his time in South Carolina Gibbs also involved himself in the political activities that were available to blacks during Reconstruction. Controversially, Gibbs' participation in a meeting of black delegates in South Carolina who drafted a petition demanded that the educated of both races be allowed to vote, indicates an elitism present in his character. The petition also stated that, "we do ask that if the ignorant white man is allowed to vote, that the ignorant colored man shall be allowed to vote also."[26]In spite of Gibbs' apparent elitism, it was clear that he valued the power of education for his formerly enslaved brethren. Gibbs noted that,"If we can secure, for the next ten years, three clean shirts a week, a tooth brush, and spelling-book to every Freedman in South Carolina, I will go bail (a thing I seldom do) for the next hundred years, that we will have no more slavery, and both whites and blacks will be happier and better friends."[27] During this period, Gibbs met and married his second wife, Elizabeth, with whom he would have at least one child (who would die in infancy). Gibbs "remained [in Charleston] but a short time not finding things to his liking. He proceeded to Jacksonville, Florida and there opened an Academy for youth of that city."[28]
Reconstruction politician
1868 Constitutional Convention and rise to Secretary of State[edit]
Gibbs moved to Florida in 1867 where he started a private school in Jacksonville. He rapidly moved away from his missionary efforts and into active political involvement in Reconstruction Florida. Religion and politics went hand-in-hand for black officeholders in this period and Gibbs' entrance echoed the words of another prominent black officeholder, Charles H. Pearce who remarked that, "A man in this State, cannot do his whole duty as a minister except he looks out for the political interests of his people."[29] Gibbs was elected to the State Constitutional Convention of 1868. He formed part of the radical Mule Team faction within the convention that initially gained control of the convention only to be thwarted by more moderate and conservative delegates led by Harrison Reed and Ossian Bingley Hart.[30] Canter Brown, Jr. wrote of the resulting constitution that: "While it established the state's most liberal charter to that date, it incorporated important restrictions on black political power. It permitted most former Rebels to vote, at the same time specifying a legislative apportionment plan that discriminated again black-majority counties in favor of sparsely populated white counties. The drafters retained one item especially important to black leaders. The constitution directed the legislature to create a uniform system of public schools."[31] The Mule Team proceeded to nominate its own slate of candidates, opposing the more conservative faction ofRepublicans nominating Gibbs for Florida's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ultimately, the Mule Team coalition fractured in the wake of the successful election of a moderate Republican administration and Congressional approval of the 1868 Constitution.
Though Gibbs did not win the election to Congress, he was appointed Florida's Secretary of State from 1868 to 1872, by Wisconsin-born Republican governor, Harrison Reed. The power and responsibility that Gibbs' wielded during his four years as Secretary of State was a point not missed on the Philadelphia-born minister. In a letter to his close friend, Charles Barrett, Gibbs remarked that, "In 1868 I was appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, Secretary of State of Florida at a salary of $3000, per year for four years, and stand second man in the government of this State today."[32] The amount of actual power and influence Gibbs had contradicts the observations made by historians of this period. Eric Foner noted that, "During Reconstruction more blacks served in the essentially ceremonial office of secretary of state than any other post, and by and large, the most important political decisions in every state were made by whites."[33] However, Article VIII of the Constitution states that, "The Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary of State, and Attorney General shall constitute a body corporate, to be known as the Board of Education of Florida. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be president thereof. The duties of the Board of Education shall be prescribed by the Legislature."[34] Gibbs also was incredibly proactive as Secretary of State, conducting extensive investigations into violence and fraud (including investigations into the activities of the Ku Klux Klan) and he also served on the Board of Canvassers, testifying on behalf of Josiah Thomas Walls.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
He was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1873. Gibbs was also commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Florida State Militia. Gibbs was also elected as a Tallahassee City Councilman in 1872.
Death
Legacy and impact
He was the brother of prominent Arkansas Reconstruction Judge Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, and the father of Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs, a delegate to the 1886 Florida Constitutional Convention, and a member of the Florida state legislature. Gibbs High School, the first high school in St. Petersburg for black students, is named after him. Gibbs Junior College (also in St. Petersburg) was named after him. The college now forms part of St. Petersburg College which has a Gibbs Campus.
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