Photos from Mayor Gibson's Publicity Office

Kenneth Allen Gibson (b. 1932), Newark's first African-American mayor, served as mayor from 1970 to 1986.

Gibson was born in Enterprise, Alabama, but moved to Newark's Central Ward in 1940 with his parents, and younger brother Harold. His father Willie worked in the Swift packing plant in Kearny, and his mother Daisy worked as a seamstress. Gibson attended the Monmouth Street School and Cleveland Junior High School, and graduated from Central High School in 1950, the same year that he entered the Newark College of Engineering. Gibson, whose college education was interrupted by work and by his service in the military, graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from NCE in 1962.

From 1956-1958, Gibson served in Hawaii with the 65th Engineer Battalion of the United States Army; otherwise he was employed in Newark: Engineer, Highway Department (1950-1960), Chief Engineer, Newark Housing Authority (1960-1966), and Chief Structural Engineer (1966-1970). Gibson first married at the age of eighteen, a marriage that ended in divorce; he later married Muriel Cook (1929-1983) and he had two daughters, Jo Anne (Danks) and Cheryl (Fuller), and one step-daughter, Joyce (Williams).

Throughout the early 1960s, Gibson was active in community affairs, as director of the Newark YW-YMCA and in the Newark chapters of the Urban League and the NAACP. In 1964, Gibson was chosen as the "Outstanding Alumnus" by Newark College of Engineering and as "Man of the Year" by Newark's Junior Chamber of Commerce.

In 1966 Gibson joined the mayoral race only six weeks before the election. He received 1 percent of the vote, causing a run-off, but ultimately lost to incumbent Hugh J. Addonizio. Gibson spent the next four years preparing for the 1970 mayoral campaign, which he won.

When Gibson entered office in 1970 he was faced with a large budget deficit, high crime, and unemployment, along with the lingering social, political, and fiscal ramifications of the 1967 Newark riots. During his tenure as mayor Gibson acquired substantial federal funding for Newark and added or rehabilitated thousands of housing units. Despite all efforts, however, Newark's population continued to decline while crime and unemployment rates remained high.

As municipal challenges mounted in the late 1970s, and early 1980s, Gibson's image suffered. In 1981 he made an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, losing the Democratic nomination to James Florio, and in 1986 he lost Newark's mayoral election to Sharpe James.

Gibson ended his tenure as mayor facing accusations of corruption; in 2002 Gibson received three years probation for tax fraud.

Gibson remained in Newark until his death in 2019.