06.16_Newark, NJ Mayor Kenneth Gibson

#OTD Democratic politician Kenneth Gibson was elected the 36th mayor of Newark, New Jersey and the first African American to lead the city.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This day in History, June sixteenth, nineteen seventy, Kenneth Gibson
is elected the thirty fourth mayor of Newark, New Jersey,
in the first black mayor of the city. Born in Enterprise, Alabama,
in nineteen thirty two, Gibson worked as a civil engineer
while serving in the United States Army. After graduating from

(00:22):
Newark College in nineteen sixty three, Gibson worked as an
engineer for the New Jersey Highway Department and the Newark
Housing Authority. By nineteen sixty six, he was the city's
chief structural engineer. In his mayoral race, Gibson defeated incumbent
Mayor Hugh Audisio, and during his term he aided in
revising Newark's struggling economy. He encouraged urban developments like Society

(00:48):
Hill that sought to return Newark's fleeing middle class. Gibson
would served four consecutive terms as mayor of Newark. In
nineteen eighty six, he was succeeded by Sharp James, Newark's
second African American mayor.