Albert Gallmon

Don’t paint everybody with the same brush. Judge people individually. Give people a chance to change. There comes a time to change.

Albert Gallmon

My name is Reverend Albert Gallmon. I was born in 1952 in Tampa, Florida. It was a time of segregation. African-Americans had their place and the whites had theirs.

When I was in the 7th grade my mom decided to integrate a local white school with my brother and I. That meant that we were the first black children to go to an all white school. It was not easy, we needed a police escort.

Sports were an important part of my life. I played basketball and received a scholarship to St. John Fisher College to play. I moved from Tampa to New York where I saw it snow for the first time.

While I was growing up both my mother and father worked very hard. My dad was a truck driver and away from home a lot. He was never able to see me play basketball.

Even though we didn’t see our dad much, he taught us that to succeed, you need to work. He was a good role model and instilled in us the work ethic.

My mom worked cleaning and raising us children. She is a very Christian woman. She gave us most of our values.

I graduated from college in Political Science and Math. My first job was with Kodak in California. Then, I was able to move back to New York working for IBM.

While working for IBM I decided to quit my job and go back to school to become a minister. I was 30 years old.

I am now the minister at Missionary Fellowship Baptist Church. I am married and have a son and daughter.

Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church is very important to me. It is a vital actor in this community. Today we have to work very hard at closing the educational achievement gap. Those who have an education will benefit from all this society has to offer. Those who don’t get an education will be angry and left behind.