As This State's Superintendent, He Advocated For Education As A Civil Right

On January 23, 1873, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs took his place as the first Superintendent of Public Instruction in Florida. That meant supervising each county’s standard of education and standardizing textbooks statewide. 

And that was a dangerous position.

Gibbs’ previous work with the Underground Railroad, establishing a school for the formerly enslaved, and publishing pro-abolition writing made his next moves unsurprising. He advocated for public education as a civil right - and was anti-segregation in schools.

But with this rise in power came a fear of retaliation from the Ku Klux Klan. Gibbs spent many nights sleeping armed in his attic. 

Until one night a speech in 1874 became his last.

Gibbs’ death was sudden; its cause is unsure. Some say it was a stroke or heart attack. Others, that he was poisoned. Still, his legacy continued in his son, who, in 1885, introduced legislation that laid the foundation for Florida A&M University.

The fight for public education is both our history and a clear threat today. But from the KKK to DeSantis, Black people have always resisted. We’ve created freedom schools. Taught our children what schools won’t. Supported local libraries. Mailed radical books to people in prisons. 

We won’t all hold political positions like Gibbs, but we all have the power to share knowledge in our communities in the face of suppression.