At the recent Louise C. Stokes Scholar House ribbon cutting, CHN Housing Partners unveiled an exhibit honoring the incredible life story of Louise C. Stokes, mother of the late Congressman Louis Stokes and late Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.
At age 18, Louise moved to Cleveland where she began nearly fifty years “in service,” as she put it, and developed one of her guiding principles: the value of hard work. It was here that she met young Charles Louis Stokes, who worked in a laundry, and they were married July 21, 1923, when she was 28 years old. The young husband died early in their marriage when Louis was two and a half years old, and Carl was 13 months old. Mrs. Fannie Stone, her widowed mother, came to live with her to look after the family while she worked.
Whenever she talked of her 40 years as a domestic worker, she would say, “I had to work with my hands and this made me all the more concerned that my sons get the kind of education I didn’t have.”
When Louis wanted to quit school in the 12th grade to join his friends being drafted into service in World War II, she insisted that he stay in school and get his diploma. Similarly, when Carl dropped out of high school and went into the Army, it worried her. She always told both boys, “Get an education – get something in your head so that you don’t have to work with your hands like I do.”
Both Louis and Carl obtained a law degree and served as distinguished elected officials. Carl became the first African American mayor of a major American city, and Louis became the first African American congressman from Ohio.
Thank you to Lori Stokes, the daughter of Louis and granddaughter of Louise, for generously sharing all the photos included in the exhibit from her collection. And thank you to the Western Reserve Historical Society for digitizing the photos included in the exhibit.
Look through the images below to learn more about Louise and her family.
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. A poem that held lots of meaning to Louise and her sons.
Louise Stokes in 1943.
Louise, her husband Charles and their son Louis.
Louis and Carl Stokes (ages 4 and 2).
Carl, Louise and Louis in front of Outhwaite Homes where the family lived.
Carl, Louise and Louis when Carl was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1957.
Louis and Carl onstage in 1973.
Carl and Louis in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Louise in front of her son Louis’ first Congressional office.
Louise at the swearing in of her son Carl for his second term as the Mayor of Cleveland in 1970.
The resolution naming Louise Ohio Mother of the Year in 1969.
Louise C. Stokes being crowned Ohio Mother of the Year in 1969.
About the author
CHN Housing Partners
