Mifflin Wistar Gibbs
Source: Wikipedia: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs
Politics • Historical Archive • 🇺🇸 United States • 1 views

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs 🇺🇸

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs (Known as "Mifflin W. Gibbs")
Black Pioneer Merchant, Victoria City Councillor, Civil Rights Reformer
Born Apr 17, 1823 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, United States
Passed Away Jul 11, 1915 Little Rock (Arkansas), United States
Lifespan 92 years old
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Archival Overview

Pioneering African American abolitionist and merchant who migrated to Vancouver Island in 1858, becoming the first Black person elected to public office in British Columbia and an influential advocate for Canadian Confederation.

Biographical Record

Born free in Philadelphia, Gibbs worked on the Underground Railroad alongside Frederick Douglass before moving to California and then Victoria, British Columbia during the 1858 gold rush. In Victoria, he built a successful merchant enterprise and was elected to the Victoria City Council in 1866, advocating for free public education and fiscal reform.

A delegate to the 1868 Yale Convention, Gibbs ardently championed the entry of British Columbia into Canadian Confederation. After returning to the United States, he became a municipal judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later US consul to Madagascar.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Fraternal Cemetery
Little Rock (Arkansas), United States
GPS: 34.7258, -92.2742
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