Angela Stokes is the daughter of Louis Stokes and a graduate of the University of Maryland and Howard University Law School. She was Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio, and a Cleveland Municipal Court Judge for twenty years.
Lori Stokes is the youngest child of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Howard University. She has worked in television journalism since 1986, reporting for stations in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland. She also worked at MSNBC and is currently a morning television anchor in New York City.
Louis "Chuck" Stokes is the only sone of Louis Stokes. He began his career as a sports writer for the Washington Post. For over 30 years he has been the editorial/public affairs moderator for news and public affairs show "Spotlight on the News" for WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.
Shelley Stokes-Hammond is the oldest daughter of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of Ohio University and Goucher College. She is a historic preservationist, author, and public relations manager at Howard University.
Carl Stokes (1927-1996) was the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, from 1967-1971. Stokes was the first African American mayor of a major American city and the first African American Democrat in the Ohio State Legislature, where he served three terms from 1962-67. As mayor, Stokes launched a number of programs to alleviate the problems of urban decay. Chief among these was Cleveland: NOW!, a joint public and private program with plans to raise $177 million in its first two years to revitalize Cleveland. The program was discredited due to the Glenville Shootout in July, 1968. Under Stokes, Cleveland City Council passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Ordinance, and HUD resumed funding projects aiding in the construction of over 3,000 new low- and middle-income housing units. Stokes became a newscaster with NBC television in 1972, and returned to his law practice in Cleveland in 1980. In 1983, Stokes was elected a municipal court judge. The collection consists of formal individual portraits of Carl Stokes, individual and group portraits of the Stokes family and friends, city officials, local and national celebrities and political figures, and individual citizens. It also includes candid and formal group portraits and views of official functions of the mayor, functions of individual city departments and commissions, and local community groups. Included are portraits of Hubert H. Humphrey, Edmund Muskie, Rev. Billy Graham, Pope Paul VI, entertainers Bob Hope and Bill Cosby, and Congressmen Charles Vanik and Louis Stokes. Events depicted include Cleveland NOW! activities, urban renewal and housing rehabilitation, the Glenville shootout, and youth activities.
Carl Stokes (1927-1996) was the Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, from 1967-1971. Stokes was the first African American mayor of a major American city and the first African American Democrat in the Ohio State Legislature, where he served three terms from 1962-1967. As mayor, Stokes launched a number of programs to alleviate the problems of urban decay. Chief among these was Cleveland: NOW!, a joint public and private program with plans to raise $177 million in its first two years to revitalize Cleveland. The program was discredited due to the Glenville Shootout in July, 1968. Under Stokes, Cleveland City Council passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Ordinance, and HUD resumed funding projects aiding in the construction of over 3,000 new low- and middle-income housing units. Stokes became a newscaster with NBC television in 1972, and returned to his law practice in Cleveland in 1980. In 1983, Stokes was elected a municipal court judge. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the political career of Carl B. Stokes, including his terms in the Ohio State legislature, his mayoral campaigns, and particularly his tenure as mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. The collection details the organization of the mayor's office, and illustrates the problems that Blacks in the vanguard of social and political progress faced, as well as the challenges faced by any urban leader in the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s. Key events in Stokes' administration are illustrated, including the Glenville Shootout, the hiring and resignation of Safety Director Gen. Ben Davis, the activities of the Mayor's Council on Youth Opportunities, and Cleveland: NOW! The work of then City Council President James Stanton is represented, along with material relating to Stokes' brother Louis. Notable correspondents include Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Robert F. Kennedy, Spiro Agnew, Cyrus Eaton, Edward Kennedy, George Forbes, Jesse Jackson, and Howard Metzenbaum.
As chairman of the Intelligence Committee Louis Stokes was struck by the lack of diversity within the intelligence community, he remarked,” They were all white, a few females, and zero minorities.” He felt embarrassed by it, which led him to spearhead a program that recruited minority and disadvantaged students into the FBI, CIA, NSA, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The program was a huge success, and Stokes continued his commitment to support programs to engage minorities in science, engineering in math right here in Cleveland. Stokes is shown here discussing the NASA Science Engineering Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA), a project that was designed to increase participation and retention of underrepresented youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.
On November 5, 1968, Louis Stokes was elected Congressman of the 21st Congressional District of Ohio on his first try for public office. This 1969 newspaper article shows Congressman Stokes with his brother, and Cleveland’s first African American Mayor, Carl Stokes. They’re shown here in front of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C after his swearing into Congress. He began his tenure as a congressman in the US House of Representatives in 1969, at a time when there were only 7 African Americans serving, but as Stokes remarks in his book The Gentleman from Ohio, “I didn’t have any qualms that I’d be able to take my place there. I was ready to go to Washington—and go to work.” And he did just that.
Shown shortly after winning his first election, Louis Stokes is shown with his wife Jay and their four children. Stokes was very proud of his family, and said of his of his wife and of their 55 years of marriage “I can hardly believe my good fortune...my children, my inspirational wife…all I can say is that I have been more than fortunate; I have been blessed.” From r to l: Jay, Lori, Louis Sr., Shelley, Chuckie, and Angela.