Righting the past: Spencer Bibbs, entrepreneur and church co-founder, dies
Editor’s note: This is the 26th in a series of historical obituaries written today to honor the men and women of the past who were denied the honor at the time of their death because of discrimination due to their race and/or gender.
Spencer Bibbs, a professional driver or hackman, an advocate for equal educational access and one of the founders of Edwards Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, died at his home in the early morning of Dec. 18, 1922. He suffered from bronchial asthma and had been ill for two months. He was 65.
Mr. Bibbs was born in Montgomery, Alabama, between July 1857 and September 1858, to B. Bibb, a white plantation owner from Alabama, and Francis Taylor, an enslaved Black woman from Virginia. According to the family, Spencer had at least two other siblings, Henry and Virginia.
Spencer moved to Pensacola by 1878. In his early 20s, he became a co-founder of Edwards Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. As a trustee of the newly organized congregation, he was responsible for the administrative, operational and financial aspects of the church. In early church records, the elders tasked Spencer with organizing church quarterly meetings and leaders’ meetings. In 1883, Spencer helped negotiate the purchase of land at 13th Avenue and Scott Street. The church, built around 1892, still stands today in East Hill.
On Feb. 27, 1879, Rev. J. M. Butler of Talbot Chapel AME Zion Church officiated the marriage of Spencer to Priscilla Taylor, a fellow Alabamian living with her family in Pensacola. Spencer worked as a laborer while Priscilla kept house. They lived near the Edwards Chapel church at 12th Avenue and what is now Lakeview Avenue and welcomed their only child, Mary, in July 1885.
The year before Mary’s birth, tragedy struck Spencer. On the night of Sept. 1, 1884, a sick neighbor asked Spencer to fetch a doctor. On his way, Spencer stopped at the house of another neighbor, Walter Acosta, for assistance. He stumbled on Acosta’s porch and startled his horse. As Spencer ran to retrieve his horse, Acosta, fearing an intruder, shot him. The bullet passed through his lung before lodging near Spencer’s backbone. Shocked, Acosta rushed for assistance. The bullet was removed the following morning, but the damage to his lung would linger until his death.
By 1890, Spencer was working with horses as a hostler. He was a member of the Colored Hackman’s Exchange, an association of hackmen (or cab drivers). Formed in 1892, the association promised patrons “a good carriage, prompt service and safe and careful treatment.” It prided itself on having a “reputation for polite and careful drivers and the best informed cabmen in the city.” Spencer was both a public hack and a private hack, taking private jobs when needed or asked.
While Spencer worked as a hackman, Priscilla had her own entrepreneurial endeavors. In addition to a grocery store attached to their home, she owned a restaurant, called The Owls, at Zarragossa and Baylen Streets. The Owlsand Priscilla would be fondly remembered decades later for their tasty menu, tasteful accommodations and flair for advertising.
Spencer’s stature in the community grew. In 1899, he was elected as the supervisor at School No. 44, which served African American elementary students on the city’s east side. For over three decades, he fulfilled his duties to pay the rent and taxes at the school; to provide coal or wood to heat the building; to oversee repairs; and to “stand up for his school” at all times. As one citizen wrote to the newspaper, it was considered “an important position in the school and must be filled in order to perfect the system of education as a continuous chain from the hearthstone to the highest official.”
At the time, students who graduated from School No. 44 could attend higher elementary grades on the west side of town. The school board did not provide transportation. However, many students had to walk 10 miles roundtrip every day to continue their studies. At first, Spencer used his wagon to transport the children during inclement weather. Eventually, he went to the school board at the community’s request and successfully argued for the construction of a new school on the east side.
The new school was built on the corner of 6th Avenue and Jordan Street two blocks from the old school in 1919-1920. Edwards Chapel opened its doors during construction to serve as an interim schoolhouse. The first teacher at the new school was Spencer’s daughter, Mary Bibbs Washington. By spring 1922, the enrollment at the new school, now called Public School No. 102 was reported as “three or four hundred negro boys and girls.”
He acted as one of the representatives and agents for the operation of Escambia High School, the public high school built for African American students on the east side that opened in 1899 and operated for four years.
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During his final decades, Spencer remained a prominent and active member of his church, serving a number of roles including chair and secretary of the board of trustees, Sunday School teacher and steward board member. Both his wife and daughter worked with him for the good of the church.
Mr. Bibbs died at their final home at 2000 North 12th Avenue with his wife by his side, in the community where he was a trusted member of his church, the business community and educational system.
In honor of his advocacy for equal access to education for African American students in the East Hill and Eastside neighborhoods, the Escambia County School Board named School No. 102 for him in 1928. His legacy is celebrated by the Bibbs, Taylor and Williams families. His memory was especially noted and passionately heralded by Dr. Marion Williams, the author of his Uncle Spencer’s biography, completed in 2008. May they both rest in peace knowing their lives and work were not in vain.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Spencer Bibbs, entrepreneur and church co-founder, dies
