Mifflin Wistar Gibbs (1823–1915) was an African American entrepreneur, politician, and judge. Born in Philadelphia, he once served as a municipal judge in Little Rock. His life spanned business, public affairs, and the judiciary, and he was one of the representative figures of nineteenth-century African Americans striving for social standing. His representative work, Shadow and Light, is autobiographical in nature, recording his personal experiences while reflecting the circumstances and efforts of African Americans of his time in business, politics, and law. Public information is limited regarding the details of his early education, specific business activities, and judicial service, making them difficult to describe in detail. Judging from the available information, his writing is grounded in personal experience, plain in narrative, and focused on factual record, offering valuable primary material for the study of nineteenth-century African American history.
