2. Bornin Cleveland.
Dad died when he was three.
Dad was a laundryman.
Mom raised him.
Dropped out of high school in 1944.
3. Worked briefly at Thompson Products. Then
joined the Army at age 18. After his discharge
in 1946, Stokes returned to Cleveland and
earned his high school diploma in 1947. He
earned his bachelor degree from University of
Minnesota in 1954.
FUN FACT-He was a probation officer while
studying law.
4. Elected to the Ohio House of Representatives
in 1962, he served three terms.
His brother Louis Stokes represented
Cleveland in the U.S House of Representatives
for three decades.
Carl Stokes was the first African American
mayor of one of the ten biggest states in the
U.S.
5. He was awarded 12 honorary degrees,
numerous civic awards, and represented the
United States on numerous goodwill trips
abroad by request of the White House. In
1970, the National League of Cities voted him
its first black president-elect. There are many
buildings, monuments and a street named for
his memory within the City of Cleveland
including the CMHA Carl Stokes Center,
Stokes Boulevard, and the eponymous Carl
Stokes Brigade club.