Tribute to Mayor Gibson: former Newark school board member Lawrence Hamm

I received with great sadness the news of the passing of former Newark Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. The photo below shows Mayor Gibson (center) and his wife Camille in attendance at the annual observance of the 1967 Newark Rebellion that was held by the People’s Organization For Progress on July 12, 2009. As the first African-American mayor in the more than 350 year history of Newark he was a major figure who left an indelible imprint upon the city. Mayor Gibson’s legacy is significant. He will be missed, and he will not be forgotten. Mayor Gibson had a major impact on my life. In fact, he was one of those primarily responsible for putting me on the path of political activism. The first time I met him was in 1971 when I was leading a sit-in of high school students at the Gateway Hotel in Newark. That meeting led to my appointment by the mayor to the Newark Board of Education on July 1, 1971. I was 17 years-old at the time of my appointment and had just graduated from Arts High School in Newark, NJ two weeks earlier. At that time, I was the youngest voting school board member in the history of the United States. I served one full term as a member of the Newark Board of Education from 1971 to 1974.  (Photo courtesy of Jon Levine).