University of Arkansas at Little Rock

October 6, 2009 – Kristin Dutcher Mann

“Traveling the World with M.W. Gibbs: Local History Goes to School”

Judge Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was a prominent African American Republican politician in turn-of-the-century Little Rock.  He and his family were unusually well-traveled, and their writings and travels complicate our ideas about race, politics, and American imperialism in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. In the 2008-2009 school year Professor Mann and teachers at Gibbs Magnet School partnered to weave the travels of Judge Gibbs and his family into the art, literacy, and social studies curriculum. This talk presents Judge Gibbs’ story, as well as the impact it had on the school community.