Sister Alicia Alvarado and Jose Feliciano are both active in the Hispanic community. Sister Alvarado was born in Puerto Rico, immigrating to the United States when she was 6 years old. She received degrees from Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Kent State. And she entered the the Sisters of St. Dominic of Akron in 1979. Sister Alvarado was only junior in High School when she worked in a storefront campaign office to help Carl Stokes run for mayor.
Mr. Feliciano made history by becoming Cleveland's first Hispanic chief prosecuting attorney. He was also born in Puerto Rico and moved to Cleveland in 1952, to grow up on the near West side of Cleveland, in what is now known as Ohio City. Mr. Feliciano has been involved with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the Commission on Economic Inclusion.
Carl Stokes, and his brother Louis, were groundbreaking African-American politicians from Cleveland, Ohio. Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major U.S. city when elected in 1967. Louis Stokes was the first African-American congressman from Ohio when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968, a position he held for 15 consecutive terms. During Carl Stokes two mayoral terms, city hall jobs were opened to blacks and women, and a number of urban renewal projects were initiated. Between 1983 and 1994 Carl Stokes served as municipal judge, and in 1994 was appointed by President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Seychelles. Louis Stokes began his career as a civil rights attorney, and helped challenge the Ohio redistricting in 1965 that fragmented African-American voting strength. In 1967, Louis Stokes argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Terry v. Ohio case, also known as the "stop-and-frisk" case. In the 1970s, Louis Stokes served as chair on Assassinations and in the 1980s was a noted member of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. The collection includes 34 interviews with family and friends, associates and staff, and was conducted to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of Carl Stokes election as mayor and Louis Stokes to Congress.