User:Comradecalliope/sandbox

Early Life
Theodore Gibson dedicated his life to the fight for desegregation and local civil rights in Miami and forged a positive image for Black civil rights leaders. Theodore Roosevelt Gibson was born on April 24th, 1915 in Miami, Florida to his parents who were immigrants from the Bahamas. After his parents separated when he was young, his father left Theodore to be cared for by his single mother who worked as a maid. Theodore grew up in the southern Florida city of Overtown but was early on sent to live with his mother’s grandparents in the Black community of Georgetown, Bahamas. In Georgetown, Theodore was highly involved in Angelican Church where his grandfather, Ezekiel Smith, was a leader. Ezekiel Smith became a role model to young Theodore as he shaped his ideas of what a strong Christian man should be like through building up his self confidence and prioritizing God. Much of Gibson’s early writings show how enthralled he was with his grandfather, saying he “was the only father I ever had. He was one of the first men I ever knew”. Georgetown provided a safe space for Theodore to grow up because it excluded the presence of white people who were committing horrendous violence in the Jim Crow U.S.

After his formative years spent in Georgetown, Gibson returned to live again with his mother in their hometown of Miami. In his academic ventures, he attended high school at Booker T. Washington High School where he would graduate from. Post-high school, Gibson chose to enroll in the historically Black institution of St. Augustine College in Raleigh, North Carolina, which was a popular decision for many other Black Miamians. After graduating with his bachelor's degree in 1938, Gibson went on to attend another historically Black college, Howard University Law School where he decided to go into a career in ministry because he believed it as the most effective way to help Black problems in the U.S. After transferring to Virginia’s Bishop Payne Divinity School one semester into his first year at Howard, Gibson graduated in 1943 and became an ordained minister at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in North Carolina one year later. He did ministry work around the eastern Carolinas and Hampton, Virginia for a year after which he would go on establish his ministry position at Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove, Miami. Gibson had a strong impact on Christ Episcopal, increasing its membership in the congregation by hundreds. Along with filing lawsuits that desegregated downtown lunch counters, he engaged in much service work during his time as a minister.

Activism
With the help of a local philanthropist, Elizabeth Virrick, Gibson created the Coconut Grove Citizens Committee for Slum Clearance which filed city ordinances for the implementation of indoor plumbing, running water, and removal of old houses. This committee also founded multiple health clinics, day-care centers, and other community organizations. Additionally, Gibson led the creation of a new community ‘Richmond Heights’ which allowed for approximately 2,500 families to have housing. During this time he was married to Coconut Grove native, Thelma Vernel Anderson. Thelma had gone to school to be a nurse and she fought for thirty years alongside Theodore for local civil rights.

NAACP Involvement
In the mid-1950’s the NAACP was the largest civil rights organization and had strong relationships with churches as they provided support for member drives, a place to hold NAACP meetings, and even acted as grounds for recruiting Black voters. During this time, Gibson became the president of the Miami branch of the NAACP where he matched their modern militaristic approach and fought fiercely for integration, racial equality, and equal opportunities, saying; “One could not be moderate when freedom was denied Blacks because of their race." Gibson became involved in many demonstrations with the NAACP including one which got a White Citizens Council officer arrested for racial violence. He was also part of many legal battles as leader of the NAACP Miami branch, such as the 1956 Maggie Garmon v. Miami case, but most notably, the Gibson v FLIC case. Gibson took power during the peak of the McCarthy era where the NAACP stood strongly against communism and had a role in outing information of potential communist infiltrates to the government. This era spiked a general fear for any mildly leftist ideology and this created concern for the Miami NAACP branch which had been pushing for more radical change such as supporting affordable housing and fighting against police brutality.

The 1956 case of Gibson v FLIC was a major case between the Miami branch of the NAACP and the Florida Legislative Investigative Committee (FLIC) due to their anti-communist movement which targeted the NAACP who had been making progress in winning their desegregation court cases. FLIC’s goal had been to deny Black people equal educational opportunities, affordable housing, and the right to vote, and with this widespread fear of communism, they were in a position of power to perpetrate that ideology. FLIC had demanded that Gibson turn over a comprehensive list of his entire branch’s members, which Gibson refuted time and time again, claiming safety concerns and first amendment rights. If Gibson had given up the membership list, it could’ve put people in danger due to the white violence that plagued the U.S during Jim Crow. The notion of the South as red baiting racial justice organizations had been done for years leading up to this point, attempting to delegitimize them as communist. As a leader, Gibson worked hard to uphold the reputation of the NAACP and intensely condemn communism. Gibson hosted events that publicly portrayed blackness linked with U.S. patriotism such as when an event with Thurgood Marshall was prefaced by the audience singing both the national anthem and ‘America the Beautiful’. Gibson used the widespread panic to the NAACP’s advantage by speaking on segregation as an “anti-American” sentiment and calmed the rage over the NAACP’s left leaning ideology by reiterating the organizations propensity to use the legal system for change instead of creating chaos and protest. This was a unifying tactic he used to exemplify how loyal and “American” Black people were and how deserved their equality is.

Gibson intended to appear quite moderate to whites in order to get inches closer to racial equality, repeating the NAACP’s sentiment that Black people didn’t want to be afforded extra freedoms, but that they simply wanted equal human rights. During FLIC’s crusade on the NAACP over accusations of communism, Gibson helped to control the flame by publicly speaking out to denounce any leftists from the entire organization, saying that any suspected communists in the NAACP would have their ties severed. This all, however, was not enough and after Gibson was held in contempt for continuously failing to provide a membership list, he was sentenced by the courts to six months in prison as well as a hefty fine. After two years of multiple appeals through the Florida Supreme Court as well as the United States Supreme Court, it was finally ruled that there was no outstanding evidence for Gibson and the NAACP having communist influence in the organization. This win was huge because it solidified Gibson’s attempts to unify citizenship with Blackness and played a key role in validating the fight for racial equality as a quality of a true American.

Civil Rights Work
After his major win in the courts, Gibson led many other successful fights for desegregation in the nearby counties and cities, one of which was in alliance with a famous civil rights organization, The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1956 when Gibson’s son, Theodore R. Gibson Jr. was young, he filed Dade county’s first desegregation suit on his behalf which successfully began integration from the school board. Gibson was the leader for an integrated swim protest where he headed a group of Black people to a white-only beach. This protest led to the creation of an integrated Virginia Key Beach. In his later life, Gibson was elected Commissioner for Miami City where he campaigned for “better housing for all, reduction of crime by eliminating the causes of crime, using federal revenue sharing for creative social service programs, holding the line on taxes by getting 100 cents use of value for every dollar spent, and integrity in government." He was re-elected and worked as commissioner for almost a decade until he retired in 1981, where after he still continued to be at the forefront of local civil rights protests. Theodore Gibson was supported by his congregation as well as his organization, for when he received threats as a result of his work, members would guard his house and white friends even forced the police to give him enhanced protective measures.

Later Life
Reverend Theodore Roosevelt Gibson died of cancer when he was 67 on September 20th, 1982 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami. His son has passed away two years prior so he was survived by his wife, brother, and one grandson. Gibson’s legacy can be seen in many organizations formed after his passing such as, the Gibson Health Initiative, Theodore and Thelma School of the Performing Arts in Coconut Grove, Theodore R. & Thelma A. Gibson Charter School in Miami, and the Theodore Gibson chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians. One important tribute to Reverend Gibson is the ‘Theodore Gibson Oratorical, Declamation and Advocacy Project’ through the Miami Dade public schools. This program is focused on developing student’s public speaking skills through competitions and education which comprises of African-American writers. Theodore Gibson spread his core belief that “democracy could not exist in a society that denied citizens basic rights and that the democratic rights of Black citizens should be recognized immediately” and his legacy of fighting for civil rights lives on