Ida Gibbs

Ida Alexander Gibbs Hunt (November 16, 1862 – December 19, 1957) was an advocate of racial and gender equality and co-founded one of the first YWCAs in Washington, D.C., for African-Americans in 1905. She was the daughter of Judge Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, the wife of William Henry Hunt, and a longtime friend of W. E. B. Du Bois. Along with Du Bois, she was a leader of the early Pan-African movement.

Early life and education Ida's father, Judge Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, was one of the wealthiest African-Americans in the United States in the late nineteenth century. The third child of five siblings, Ida was the eldest daughter. One of her sisters was Harriet Gibbs Marshall.

At Oberlin College, she completed a classical and scientific academic course in the Department of Philosophy and the Arts. She was a part of the first class of black women to graduate from the school in 1884 alongside Mary Church Terrell and Anna Julia Cooper. They counted among the first-generation of African-American women to graduate from a university. Gibbs was also elected president of the Oberlin Literacy Society. In 1892, she received a masters of arts degree. Oberlin College was the first college to accept and treat equally African-American men and all women. She also taught at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Armstrong Manual Training High School in Washington, D.C., and M Street High School, a prestigious African-American college preparatory school in Washington, D.C.

YWCA and Red Cross work Gibbs Hunt pursued her civil activism in a variety of ways. Promoting black education, civil rights, and woman's suffrage, Gibbs Hunt made her mark as an educator and Pan-Africanist. Between 1905 and 1907, Gibbs Hunt returned to the United States and endorsed Washington, D.C.'s new Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She organized the first Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) for black women and became a board member of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. Internationally, she helped support W.E.B. DuBois in organizing many Pan-African Congresses beginning in 1919. Her ultimate goal was to unite Africans across the diaspora around a common purpose.

Civil Rights and Women's rights Nationally, she was involved in the Niagara Movement as well as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Other organizations Gibbs Hunt was involved in included the Club Franco-Étranger, the Book Lover's Club, the Bethel Literary Society, the Washington Welfare Association, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Gibbs Hunt, along with other like-minded African-American and African women, fought for racial and gender equality by advocating for a global women's coalition.

Gibbs published articles in the Journal of Negro History and in the Negro History Bulletin including "The Price of Peace" (1938), "Civilization and the Darker Races" (n.d.), and the "Recollection of Frederick Douglas" (1953). Her writing allowed her to share her ideas regarding racial progress and reform that she learned from her experience living on three continents.

Death and legacy Ida Gibbs Hunt died in Washington, D.C., on December 19, 1957.

Though Du Bois is recognized as the leader of the Pan-African movement, Gibbs Hunt was the major organizer behind the 1919 conference, and an influential member of the Executive Committee in subsequent years.