Pastor Oliver S. Gibson
Pastor Gibson was a pastor at Wesleyan Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. He is noted in a Beloit Daily News Profile from 1985 for his work in the Civil Rights Movement as well as his exceptional leadership of the church. Pastor Gibson, along with other pastors such as US Pride, worked exceptionally hard to gain access for African Americans to jobs previously designated as "whites-only" jobs in Beloit. He was president of the NAACP chapter of Beloit, Vice-President of the Wisconsin NAACP, and he founded a chapter of the Wisconsin Citizen Action Committee, an organization that works towards social justice. Beyond this, Pastor Gibson led a march to Madison, Wisconsin to support a fair employment bill, and he helped get an Equal Employment ordinance passed in the City of Beloit.
Pastor Gibson was a fourth-generation pastor who witnessed the Civil Rights Movement from a young age. At age twelve he went with his father to investigate the Detroit Riots, where he met Civil Rights icon Thurgood Marshall, who was good friends with his father.
Pastor Gibson faced resistance for his Civil Rights activity; the AP reported at the time that he was nearly removed from his position at Wesleyan Methodist due to a failed coup during a church conference meeting. However, Pastor Gibson managed to keep his position and his attackers were censured.