[2] In 1852, Gibson traveled to the Free Soil Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led by Frederick Douglass, William Harlan Garnett, Martin R. Delany, Henry Wilson, William Lloyd Garrison, and Thaddeus Stevens.

After a short time, Gibson moved to Indianapolis where he took charge of a Quaker supported school for former slaves there.

[2] In the spring of 1865, he went to Leavenworth, Kansas, at the call of John Turner[6] where he taught a school supported by the American Missionary Society until the end of the war.

[2] On his second trip in the new post, he was attacked by the Ku Klux Klan in North Benson, Kentucky, between Frankfort and Lexington.

During this time he continued to teach until he resigned both positions in 1874 to become assistant cashier in the Freedmen's bank.

[2] In 1871, he was appointed a deputy of the United States Secret Service to secure witnesses in Frankfort, Kentucky, of the murder of Strader Trumbo by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

[2] He attended numerous state Republican Conventions and sought elected office several times, but was never successful.

He was a co-founder of the United Brothers of Friendship based in Louisville in 1876 and served as its grand master.

[10] He also was leader of the Quinn Chapel AME Church Choir for more than 35 years and occasionally composed songs for it and for other musical societies of which he was a part.