Kenneth A. Gibson
| Kenneth Gibson | |
|---|---|
| 34th Mayor of Newark | |
|
In office July 1, 1970 – July 1, 1986 |
|
| Preceded by | Hugh Addonizio |
| Succeeded by | Sharpe James |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 15, 1932 Enterprise, Alabama |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
Kenneth Allen Gibson (born May 15, 1932 in Enterprise, Alabama) is an American Democratic Party politician, who was elected in 1970 as the 34th Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, the largest city in the state. He was the first African American elected mayor of any major Northeastern U.S. city. He served from 1970 to 1986.
Gibson studied civil engineering in college.
Gibson worked as an engineer for the New Jersey Highway Department from 1950 to 1960. From 1960 to 1966, he was Chief Engineer for the Newark Housing Authority, and Chief Structural Engineer for the city from 1966 to 1970.
Emerging from a crowded six-candidate field, Gibson was elected in a runoff election in 1970, defeating incumbent mayor Hugh Addonizio. At the time Gibson noted that "Newark may be the most decayed and financially crippled city in the nation." He entered office as a reformer, alleging that the prior administration was corrupt. Later that same year, Mayor Addonizio was convicted of extortion and conspiracy.
Gibson was also a representative of the city's large African-American population, many of whom were migrants or whose parents or grandparents had come North in the Great Migration. The city's industrial power had diminished sharply. Deindustrialization since the 1950s cost tens of thousands of jobs when African Americans were still arriving from the South looking for better opportunities than in their former communities.
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